A Long Way From Home
by gh44444
Summary: March 16, 1975, was the worst day to be an MSF soldier serving under Big Boss. What happens when the wormhole that should've taken the MSF soldiers to Dide actually took them to another parallel world? Surely nothing good. (Metal Gear and Girls Frontline crossover. Rated M for just in case. Updates infrequently.)
1. Chapter 1: Episode 0 Day of Reckoning

March 16, 1975

Mother Base, Caribbean Sea

0600

A lone soldier leans against a railing, his outline brightened by the rising sun, an S1000 shotgun hangs to his waist held up by a black sling. His shoulder bears a patch with the words "Militaires San Frontières". He pulls out a pack of cigarettes and taps it to his hand. Nothing comes out. He taps it harder this time and one cigarette appear. The soldier sighs and lifts his two-eyed balaclava and places the cig between his lips. He reaches for his lighter and puts it to the cig. 

"Hyena!" A shout comes from the morning darkness.

This sudden shout causes the soldier to drop the lighter. The lighter falls to the ground. Another soldier, wearing the same patch with a balaclava covering his face, appears from out of the darkness. This soldier wields a FAL and he has it stowed on his left shoulder, his hands hold two coffee cups filled to the brim.

"What do you want Koala!?" Hyena shouts at the newcomer. "Made me drop my damn lighter." He says kneeling down to pick up the lighter. As he kneels his foot kicks the lighter off the grates and into the ocean below. "Shit." He says angrily.

"Don't sweat it," Koala reassures. He hands Hyena one of the cups and tilts his head towards it. Hyena takes one of the cups freeing Koala's right hand. Koala reaches into his pocket and pulls out a lighter and hands it to Hyena.

"Thanks" Hyena says relieved. He lights his cigarette and hands the lighter back to Koala. Koala shakes his head at the lighter.

"You keep it. I don't smoke."

Hyena shrugs and resumes his place on the railing. Koala joins him and the two look out at the ocean as they take sips from their cups.

"Costa Rican?" Hyena asks after taking a sip of the hot beverage.

"Yeah, the Boss let us have the good stuff for the inspection today. Guess he wants us in tip-top shape just in case anything happens.

"Dunno why the Boss would worry, those UN pansies won't try anything," Hyena says rolling up his sleeve and flexing his small arms. "MSF is too strong to be bullied by some UN idiots."

Koala lets out a curt laugh. "With those 'muscles' we have nothing to fear."

Hyena gives him a slight punch on the arm.

"Woah stop I wouldn't want to get the Shorty with a shotgun mad," Koala says mockingly.

"That nickname isn't clever and you know it," Hyena says seriously. "And besides I'm like 5'4 I'm not that short." He says leaning his head onto the railing.

Koala puts his hand on Hyenas head and rubs it. Hyena responds like a dog and pushes his head towards the hand begging for more to with Koala obliges.

"What are you two idiots doing?" A new voice says

Both soldiers turn around and see another soldier bearing their same patch and gear, except this soldier shoulders a WA 2000. This soldier stands taller than Hyena but only slightly shorter than Koala. His face is also covered by a balaclava, but his light skin shows through the eye holes.

"What? This is my only chance to pet a Hyena, Toad." Koala says humorously.

Toad lets the air out of his nose. "Anyways. I came because your shifts are over, Lion and I are going to take over from now." 

Another soldier, of the same size as Toad, peeks from around the corner. His weapon is an M60 which he holds in his hands unattached to a sling. He wears a battle-dress, with helmet, coated in a dark layer of black paint. The patch they all wear is artfully painted onto both the chest and the right shoulder. His face and body are completely encased in the armor and his features are completely hidden. 

"Hey guys, how's tricks?" Lion asks

"Same as always I suppose," Hyena responds knocking Koala's hand from his head. "You guys going to be awake for the inspection?"

"Yeah, that's our orders. Unfortunately." Toad says slightly regretfully.

"Well good luck with that me and Hyena here are going to hit the hay while we have a chance," Koala says dragging Hyena away by the neck. "Have fun at inspection." He says barely containing his glee.

Toad gives them a wave and leans against the railings and looks to the sea. Lion places his back to the railings and rests his M60 on his shoulder.

March 16, 1975

Mother Base Barracks, Carribean Sea

1800

Hyena and Koala lay in beds right across from each other. They lay sleeping on the metal cots provided to the soldiers of MSF. Koala's hand lies off the bed on the cold metal floor and the sheets to his cot lay messily on the ground. His balaclava is off as well revealing his white skin and brown hair, which is well kept and maintained. In direct opposite Hyena lies in his bed with the sheets covering his body neatly. His balaclava is also off revealing his copper-toned skin and his messy long black hair.

They both sleep with white tank tops on revealing their matching MSF logo tattoos printed on their right shoulders. The more muscular Koala has multiple scars on his body compared to his skinnier roommate who barely has one.

The door to their room is tried from the outside but is stopped by the shoddily made door stop Koala made. Both men awaken instantly and grab their respective guns from under their cots. They both take prone positions and slide underneath their beds and point their weapons towards the door. The door is tried again and is opened. Two men bearing UN logos enter the room their weapons drawn, their flashlights illuminating the room. Both men wield UN issue ARC-PT's with suppressors attached.

They silently walk over to the cots and check them for occupants. Satisfied knowing the room is empty one of the men kneels down to place a block of C4 on the ground. He turns his eyes towards the hidden Hyena only to be greeted by the barrel of a shotgun. With one pull the UN soldiers face is blown away by a point-blank shot from Hyena's S1000. Before the other soldier can react Koala fires two shots from his FAL into his legs. The Un soldier collapses beside his dead friend. Koala grabs the soldiers neck and drags him underneath the bed and places a knife against his throat.

"Who are you and where are the rest?" Koala asks steadily.

"You're all dead men. Did you think your little operation would go unnoticed? You and your boss are all dead men." The UN soldier jeers at them.

Koala's face does not change from a neutral expression as he slits the soldier's neck from ear to ear. He pushes the bleeding man off of him and rises from underneath his cot. Hyena does the same and stretches his arms. Both men grab their fatigues from a locker and put them on.

"Have we been infiltrated?" Hyena asks, slightly unimpressed.

"Seems so. Looks like the UN pansies had a hidden agenda." Koala says wiping the blood off on his fatigues.

"Looks like we'll be having some fun tonight," Hyena says as he leaves the room. "If that's their best then-" He stops himself.

"What's the matter?" Koala asks pushing Hyena from out of the doorway. He looks down the hall to see all the doors before theirs opened.

"You don't think…." Hyena says his voice hushed.

"We won't know until we check," Koala assures.

Both men walk cautiously towards the first door. They stop before it. Both men switch positions so that Hyena takes point. With a silent nod, Hyena turns the corner into the doorway and points his gun into the room. All that's in the room are two dead bodies of MSF soldiers. Both show no signs of a struggle and a single bullet whole lies directly in their foreheads. Killed while they were sleeping.

"How peaceful," Hyena mutters leaving the doorway.

"Should we check the other rooms," Koala asks.

"No point. Our room is the last one in this hallway." Hyena says solemnly.

"Well, I'm sure things can't get any worse th-." Koala stops himself and sniffs the air. "Do you smell smoke?"

Hyena also sniffs the air. "Yeah, I do actually. I think it's coming from the direction of the exit topside."

Both men walk towards the exit with Hyena taking the lead. He opens the door topside and is greeted by the combination of burning flesh and oil. He has to cover his nose fast in order to avoid passing out from the smell. He looks around to see that the main platform is aflame with many of the struts leading to the other platforms destroyed. The sounds of fighting flood his ears as he looks around for friendly faces. His eyes dart back and forth, but his body does not move from the doorway.

"Is this hell," Hyena mutters under his breath. His question receives a quick response in the form of bullets.

Three shots whizz past him with the fourth hitting his arm, knocking his shotgun out of his hands and bringing him to his knees. Koala responds in kind by shooting in the direction of the enemy shots and not stopping until he can hear a scream of pain. He drags Hyena back inside.

"You good?" Koala asks out of breath.

"Yeah, but he got me good," Hyena says clutching his shoulder. "Go find Toad and Lion. Get the squad back together. I'll be here when you get back."

Koala nods and runs off towards any fighting. He encounters more hostiles than friendlies and subdues them as he finds them. Luckily the element of surprise is on his side as he comes from a part of the platform that was called in as being secure. He begins to lose hope as he searches until he hears the tell-tale sound of on an M60 firing. He sprints towards it ignoring the enemies firing at him. As he approaches the M60 sounds the sounds of enemies screaming and shouting gets louder. 

"C' mon you UN fucks!" Lion shouts at the top of his lungs. "I can take you all on!" 

Lion stands behind a makeshift barricade made of storage boxes with the sea behind him. On top of the barricade, Toad lies prone with his WA2000 shooting any enemies throwing grenades. Toad spots Koala.

"Hey. Friendly coming up." Toad says to Lion.

"Alright," Lion says hauling his M60 off the barricade and placing it by his side.

Some of the UN soldiers pop their heads up to check on the machine-gun emplacement only to have their heads blown off by Toad's sniper. The rest run off and retreat over the catwalk too the main platform leaving the platform in MSF hands. Koala comes running up to the barricade out of breath.

"Looks like we held them off. I doubt they'll be back after that ass kicking." Lion says confidently.

"Gather...squad...Hyena...injured...rally together." Koala says through haggard breathing.

"Alright let's go link up with Hyena. Lead the way Koala." Toad says hopping off the barricade.

Koala lets out a heavy sigh and walks back the way he came with Lion and Toad in tow. As they walk Koala only now realizes how many dead MSF soldiers he ran past. How many brothers were killed here? How many could he have saved if he just stopped and helped? The questions flooded through his head like a tsunami.

The questions stop as soon as he sees Hyena. He's up against the railing like in the morning, but this time he is using a pair of binoculars. His fatigues are ripped up by his wounded shoulder and the ripped cloth has been used as a makeshift bandage which now covers his wound. He looks towards his squad with a face of humor.

"Took you guys long enough." He says with weak humor.

"Yeah well if you guys did a better job killing these bastards we would have been faster." Lion snaps back.

"Fair enough. Come look at this." Hyena says handing the binoculars to Lion.

"Where?" Lion says putting the binoculars to his face. Hyena points to a helicopter on the main deck.

"Is that the….." Lion says in almost complete disbelief.

"Yeah, it's him… The Boss." Hyena says proudly.

"What?! Seriously? Let me see!" Toad says trying to grab the binoculars away from Lion.

"No way. I've never seen The Boss in action before." Lion says pushing away Toad's hand.

"Calm down you children," Hyena says with a stern tone. "Lion give the binoculars to Toad before he starts throwing a fit."

"Damn and he was just doing one of his famous takedowns on one of the fuckers," Lion says depressedly.

Toad grabs the binoculars eagerly and looks through them while Lion watches from behind. Hyena and Koala shift away from the two and talk among themselves.

"Should we go to the main platform? Seems like a suicide mission given we have to cross the catwalk." Hyena argues.

"We have too. The Boss is here. Let that sink in. THE BOSS, the one who taught us everything we know like a father and who we basically never see, is here. And you want to not go see him in person." Koala shoots back his past fatigue completely vanishing.

"I suppose you're right lets-" Hyena is interrupted by an explosion.

A C4 explosive takes out the struts surrounding their platform which separates the platform from all others leaving it alone. The explosion shakes the platform causing the squad to fall to their knees. The platform's structural beams also take damage from the explosion causing the platform to shift to one side unevenly. After shifting some more the platform reaches a sort of equilibrium and sits shifted to one side.

"Everyone ok?" Koala shouts out.

"I'm good." Lion calls out

"Safe." Toad calls

"Doing fine," Hyena says painfully.

The squad reclaims their footing and dust themselves off. Lion grabs the binoculars and resumes his watch of The Boss.

"Hey, guys I think Boss is leaving," Lion says disbelievingly

"There's no way Boss wouldn't do that," Hyena says grabbing the binoculars from Lion. "Holy shit your not lying."

Through the binoculars, Hyena can see the Boss board a helicopter which leaves the burning main platform and essentially abandoning Mother Base. Hyena watches the helicopter hoping it turns around, but it never does and continues flying into the night.

"You can't be serious…." Hyena says his hand covering his mouth. "Did the Boss…..abandon us.." He collapses to the ground, his strength leaving his knees.

"No, he didn't abandon us! He's just going to get more reinforcements." Toad argues. "That has to be it…." He says quieter.

The squad remains silent unsure of what to do. Koala makes an attempt at speaking but decided not too. Hyena stands back up with purpose and looks to the sky.

"What's that?" He says pointing to the sky. 

The squad looks up and look to the sky with horror. What seems to be a massive rift has opened in the sky. It slowly sucks up debris from the platforms. They can feel themselves being slightly pulled by it, and then a flash.

?

?

0800

The grass feels nice beneath Hyena's face. His fingers go through the grass with ease and he reaches out to feel more of it. As he reaches out he can feel what he thinks is leather. He looks up to see a girl. She is dressed in a white shirt with a striped green short tie. She wears shorts up to her thigh and her hair is done in a way that makes it look like she has cat ears. She carries a gun which Hyena can't identify.

"Who….are..you?" Hyena says through labored breath as his wound has reopened and bleeds heavily.

"Nya?" The girl responds.

Hyena only manages a confused face before passing out.


	2. Chapter 2

?

Alpha Base Hospital

0600

A small room decked in full hospital white. A lone bed sits in the middle of the room with a chair adjacent to it. The bed is surrounded by curtains obscuring the occupant. A small table lies to the edge of the room. On it are many personal items such as a walk-man, c-rations, and ammo cases for a shotgun. A single window lies on the eastern wall of the room and a small sliver of light peers through it. The only sound that can be heard is the patient monitor that beeps at a consistent pace.

A few minutes pass and the door to the hospital is gently opened. Two figures enter the room one dressed in formal military attire and the other dressed in casual wear. The casually dressed figure holds an IDW in its hands.

"This is the one, I'm guessing." The formally dressed figure asks.

"Yes, Commeownder. I found him on the battlefield, nya." The IDW figure responds.

"I see." The commander says walking forwards pushing away the curtains.

On the bed lies a soldier. He wears dirty military fatigues with the logo reading MSF written on the shoulder. His shoulder has been bandaged, but a bloodstain remains where a bullet passed through. He wears a black two-eyed balaclava which covers most of his face and mouth, but his black hair sticks from underneath.

The commander inspects the unconscious soldier. He notices something shiny wrapped around the soldier's neck and gently lifts it from under the fatigues.

"Hyena." The commander reads off the dog tag. The commander sits in the chair. "IDW, tell me more about this soldier."

"Well, Commeownder I can't say much. He suddenly appeared out of nowhere along with another guy who was dressed just like him." IDW explains

"There was another?"

"Yes, Commeownder. The other one was taken back to HQ for questioning since he was still conscious."

The commander sucks his teeth and stands up. "Why wasn't I told." He angrily whispers to himself. He looks to IDW. "I'm going to take a trip to HQ. You stay here and watch this one." He points to the unconscious Hyena.

"But Commeownder wouldn't it is easier to just call them?" IDW asks

"No, this time I have to physically go there. They've been screwing me a lot recently and I want to know why." The commander says storming out of the room. "Watch the patient. That's an order." He yells from down the hall. The door closes.

"Understood Commeownder." She responds saluting the now closed door. She remains in the saluting position for a few more seconds before collapsing onto the chair.

"Why do I have to be on guard duty, nya." She says sadly.

She stretches, letting out another nya in the process, and rises from the chair and heads toward the small table.

"Ooo. What's this?" She asks herself loudly.

She picks up the walk-man and brings it back over to the chair. She sits down and opens the walk-man and sees a cassette. She lifts it towards the only light in the room. The words on the cassette brighten up.

"Love Deterrence, nya?" She questions. She shrugs her shoulders and puts it back into the walkman and presses the play button.

The song starts to play out of the walk-man. The acoustic guitar that plays makes IDW sway with every string played. She starts to hum to the beautiful song coming out of the archaic box.

"Mmmmm" A pained sound comes from the soldier. IDW jumps out of her chair. She points her IDW at the soldier.

The soldier opens his eyes. The light above him is too bright so he uses his healthy arm to block it out. He looks toward where the music is playing and can only see a dark figure. "Boss?" He says with an innocent tone of a child.

IDW lowers her gun and puts on a confused face. "Boss, nya?"

At this point, Hyena's eyes have adjusted to the room and now the figure is completely illuminated. "You're the cat girl." He says slightly out of it, his mind foggy.

"The names IDW, nya!" She says in a defensive tone. "And you can stay right there for scaring me."

"A cat doesn't tell a Hyena what to do," Hyena says, his mind now straight. He tries to raise himself out of the bed but finds that his damaged arm is handcuffed to the railing of the bed. He tries the handcuffs, but they are sturdy and do not budge even when he uses his full force. He lies back into bed defeated.

He looks at IDW. "Where am I, cat?" He asks slightly more polite than usual.

"I can't tell you this base is secret," IDW says as she points his gun at him again. "For all, we know you could be an SF spy."

"SF? Secret bases? Make some sense cat." Hyena spits back.

"Sangvis Ferri, you know the people you work for," IDW says.

"Never heard of them," Hyena responds.

"Then why do you have part of their designation on your shoulder, nya? What's MSF? Some type of secret branch of SF, nya!" She angrily yells.

Hyena puts his hand over his ear. He sits up in the bed and shows her his shoulder. He points to the badge. "MSF stands for Militaires Sans Frontières. We're a PMC that works under big boss to create a heaven for soldiers." He yells back "Or something like that I was just in it cause he captured me." He whispers to himself.

"Never heard of it, nya."

Hyena lays back down in the bed. "Well, you never will." He laments

IDW lowers her gun. Her ears perk up "Why's that, nya?"

Hyena lies back in the bed. "We were defeated and our home destroyed. I don't even know what happened to my squad. All my friends are probably dead beneath the waves by now."

Both go quiet with that last sentence. IDW approaches Hyena's bed her gun lowered to her side. She sits back in the chair.

"Sorry, nya."

"It's fine you probably had nothing to do with it. You don't look the type."

"If it makes you feel better we captured someone wearing your gear, nya."

Hyena looks at her with eyes full of hope. "Really? Where are they? Can I meet them?"

"He was taken to HQ which is far from here, nya. After they are done interrogating him than probably, nya."

Hyena looks to his lap. "That's reassuring at least. When will I be released?"

"I don't know, nya. That's for the Commeownder to decide."

"I see. Can I at least get my walk-man back."

"No, nya," IDW responds sticking out her tongue at Hyena.

Hyena sighs as he lacks the strength or the ability to fight her for it. "If you're going to be like that at least play something out of it."

She looks at him cautiously then nods. She opens the walkman and takes out the cassette and hands it to Hyena. He takes it from her weakly and raises it so he can see the words.

"Love deterrence," Hyena says ecstatically. "Great choice, but not very good for this situation, huh." He pulls a cassette from his fatigues' front pouch. "Calling to the night. A bit recent but, try that." He hands her the cassette.

"Recent, nya? More like ancient that song came out in the 1900s, nya!" She giggles to herself. She places the cassette in the walkman and plays it.

"Don't say the 1900s like it isn't 1975." He says slightly unsure. "It is still 1975 right?"

IDW looks up from the walkman. "Nope, nya. Today's date is October 23, 2062, nya."

Hyena looks at IDW with a mixture of sadness and anger in his eyes. He takes off his balaclava and pushes himself as deep as he can into the hospital bed. The patient monitor beeps louder and louder as his heart rate starts to race. He starts to struggle against the handcuffs.

IDW rushes to the door. "HELP HELP." She yells down the hall.

Hyena can hear shoes rush towards the room from outside and before he knows it a doctor and nurse are upon him. The nurse injects something into him and his vision goes blurry. Everything fades to black.

?

Alpha Base Hospital

2216

Hyena wakes up his head groggy and his vision blurry. He sits up in bed and looks to his surroundings. The sliver of sunlight that once stole into the room is now gone replaced by artificial light. The light source above him has been turned off and the room is almost completely pitch black except for the light from the window. Hyena stretches his non-arrested arm and tries the cuffs again. Unfortunately, they do not budge. He looks for IDW but does not sense her in the room with him. A slight tinge hits his heart, but he quickly forgets it.

As he lays back he notices his walkman has been placed on the chair next to him and is within arms reach. He stretches his arm until he can grab the walkman and places it on his lap. He opens the walkman and feels for the cassette, which lays neatly in its port. He pulls it out, but can't read what the cassette says. He puts the cassette back in and plays it.

Love Deterrence starts to play. He lays his head back into the pillow and looks to the ceiling unblinking. His eyes start to well up. He tries to fight back the tears, but it is a losing battle. The tears finally come out full force and he sobs aloud.


	3. Chapter 3

October 26, 2062

Alpha Base Hospital

2140

Hyena wakes up to the sound of his patient monitor. He awakes groggily and looks around the room. The room is dark, but a slight sliver of moonlight pierces the window allowing the patient table to be illuminated.

He hears the telltale sound of boots coming closer to the room. The heavy boots are accompanied by another set of lighter boots. They approach at a steady pace not too fast nor too slow, and it seems the lighter boots are just a step behind the heavier boots. They both stop in front of the door. The sound of a key entering a lock is heard, and Hyena braces himself for what comes next. 

The door opens gently, and one figure enters the room. The figure turns the light switches, which activate only one of the two lights leaving half the room in darkness. 

The figure is a man wearing a cold-weather issued bdu. His heavy boots are covered with a slight layer of sleet. His face is pale and bears a black beard. His black wavy hair is left exposed to the elements. He wears a serious expression as his eyes scan Hyena in the slight darkness.

"Hyena, I take it?" The figure asks. 

"Depends on who's asking," Hyena responds.

"The commander of the base you're currently residing at is whose asking AKA the person who saved your life."

Hyena shifts uncomfortably in his hospital bed. "I see. Then yes, I'm Hyena."

The figure pulls out a cigarette and puts it in his mouth. "A strange name to go by to be sure." The figure lights his cigarette and takes a long drag from it. "You have a real name?"

"I go by the name The Boss gave me. We abandon our given names when joining MSF." 

The figure moves to the seat next to the hospital bed and sits down in it. It lets out a relieved sigh as it gets comfortable in the steel folding chair. 

"An interesting way of treating your soldiers to be sure." The Commander says doubtfully. He takes another long drag of the cigarette. "So who is this "Boss" of yours? Is he human?" The Commander looks at Hyena with an eyebrow raised. 

"Yes, he's a human," Hyena says incredulously. "In fact, he's the best of the best when it comes to tactical espionage and spying." 

"Does he smoke?"

"Yes," Hyena responds, confused. 

"He's definitely human then. Unfortunately, there aren't any records of his existence. At least in the G&K information network. Which mind you is quite vast."

"He does exist. At least he did. Maybe. I don't know anymore." Hyena argues more to himself than to the Commander. 

"Well, let me hit you with the facts, soldier." The Commander puts out his cigarette on the metal part of the hospital bed. "The year is 2062. Sangvis Ferri has rebelled against humanity. This base is undermanned, undersupplied, and under constant attack from the enemy. We got lucky yesterday, but our luck is running out." The Commander takes out another cigarette and lights it. "And quite frankly, I doubt this base will last the rest of the year." 

The Commander leans back in the folding chair and thinks for a moment. He leans back forward and looks at Hyena with a slight smile on his grizzled face. "I have an idea that can benefit both of us."

"And what is that idea?" Hyena asks quizzically.

"How about you join us? I mean, you have nowhere to go, right?" The Commander says in a somewhat crazed tone. "I could use another human on base." He ponders the thought for a second then takes a quick drag of his cigarette. "Yes, that might work. So how about it. I'll even take those off for you." The Commander points to the handcuffs binding Hyena to the bed. 

"And if I refuse?" Hyena asks in a serious tone.

"I'll have no choice but to have you shot on suspicions of being Sangvis Ferris." The Commander says in a low voice. 

"I don't have much choice then. I'll join. Until I find The Boss."

The Commander gets up from his folding chair and extends out his hand. "Works for me. Until you find your boss, if he even exists." 

"Until I find The Boss," Hyena says, shaking the Commander's hand. As he does this, a cold chill goes down his neck. "Is this room not heated?" 

"Yes, it's just that the heater for the whole base probably just died." The Commander says with feigned glee. "We should probably get you kitted for this weather." The Commander unlocks the handcuffs. 

Hyena rubs his handcuffed hand and gets out of the bed and stands right in front of the Commander. The Commander stands at a tall 6'1 compared to the relatively small Hyena at 5'4. 

"How's the shoulder?"

"Still a bit stiff," Hyena says, stretching it. 

The door to the room opens again. A tall, white-haired woman enters the room. Her whole ensemble is pure white except for the weapon she carries. A weapons that even Hyena recognizes. The dp28 a soviet era machine gun that he had fired on multiple occasions. Its an oldie but in his experience it's reliable. The figure walks over to the Commander and whispers in his ear softly. 

"I see." The Commander scratches his beard. "Hyena, are you ready for a mission?" 

"I don't see why I wouldn't be."

The Commander lets out a weak smile then beckons Hyena to follow him. Both men and the white-haired woman exit the hospital and walk into the hallway. 

"According to dp28's report, we just ran out of rations." The Commander says 

"Things are that bad, huh," Hyena responds with disbelief. 

"Yes, things have gotten to that point. It's becoming near impossible to keep this base functioning. The artic weather doesn't help our situation either." The Commander explains. 

"I see. Is there any way to rectify the situation?"

"Yes, we just got intel that there is a nearby Sangvis Ferri FOB that hasn't been fully constructed as of yet. If we raid it now before they get set up, we can obtain the necessary resources to help rebuild our base."

"A supply raid? I like it." Hyena says, smiling under his balaclava. 

"Good, I'm sending you in with PPsh-41." 

"PPsh-41?" Hyena asks. "You have a strange way of naming your soldiers, too, ya know." 

"Sure." The Commander responds, confused. "How good are you with a sniper rifle?" 

"It's my 2nd weapon of choice," Hyena says proudly.

"Good, you're going to provide overwatch for PPsh-41 while she raids the base." The Commander says hastily. 

The trio arrives at a door with the label "AUXILLIARY BARRACKS" over the door. The trio enters into a small room with unpainted walls and a bare floor. The only semblance of furniture is the two lockers that rest in the far end of the room. The Commander and Hyena walk toward the locker while the dp28 woman remains by the door.

"This is going to be your barracks from now on." The Commander says. "I can't have you in the same barracks as the others due to your "special" nature." 

"Understandable."

"You'll find your kit in the locker. It's currently 2310. I'll give you until 2315 to get your kit equipped and ready. You'll find your echelon leader by the helipad." The commander orders. "Good luck, I'm putting a lot of faith in you."

Hyena gives a quick salute. "Understood. Boss."

The Commander returns the salute then heads towards the door where he leaves with the dp28 woman. 

Inside the locker is a cold-weather BDU, an analog radio, as well as an M200 rifle. Hyena takes off his dirty MSF fatigues and places them neatly into the locker and withdraws the BDU from within. The BDU has a G&K patch on its right shoulder. Hyena feels the foreign patch with his bare hands and lets out a sigh.

"What have I gotten myself into." He asks himself as he puts the BDU on.

He looks in the mirror of the locker to view himself. The pure white outfit contrasts with his previous jungle-based fatigues. The BDU fits well. Almost too well. He withdraws the M200 and holds it by its carry handle. 

He leaves the barracks and enters the hallway. He looks around for some direction in the dimly lit corridors and finds a worn-down sign with the words "HELIPAD" written on them. The arrow accompanying the sign also shows signs of wear as the bright red has turned to a dark red color. He heads in the direction of the arrow. 

October 26, 2062

Alpha Base

2315

Hyena walks down the long, dimly lit hallways for what seems an eternity. Each twist and turn feeling like it leads further away from his destination. However, it gives him a nostalgic feel of his time on Mother Base, so it doesn't bother him too much. 

His nostalgia ends as he encounters double doors. The cold breeze that seeps from underneath the doors tells him that it leads to the outside. He pushes the double doors and is greeted by a gust of arctic wind. In front of him, he can see a helicopter with its rotors spinning.

"Fuck that's cold," Hyena says, the moisture in his breath becoming fog.

"You get used to it, comrade." A voice says from behind him.

Hyena turns around to see a young girl wearing a tan ushanka with a bright red star on it. She carries a PPsh-41 in her hands. She wears a tan shawl over a blue and white dress.

"You must be my squad leader," Hyena asks. 

"Da, comrade. PPsh-41, pleased to meet you." She says with a smile. "Have you been briefed on the mission?" She asks, starting to walk toward the nearby helicopter. 

"Yes, I have," Hyena says, matching her pace. 

"Good, then we shouldn't have any problems. It's a simple mission an in and out type of thing." She assures.

"I see. Let's get on with it then." Hyena says with an upbeat attitude.

They both reach the helicopter and enter into it. The seats are old and scrappy with some of the cushions bearing bullet holes and stuffing seeps out. The helicopter itself bears scratches and scars of its previous missions with many bullet dents, but suspiciously no holes. In place of the pilot's seat is a black mass with buttons and lights coming off of it. The lights seem to follow the two as they enter into the cabin.

PPsh-41 sits across from Hyena and places her weapon gently against the vacant seat next to her. Hyena does the same but rests his long gun across his lap.

"Have you ever flown before comrade Hyena?" 41 asks.

"Yeah, many times before. Though never pilotless." He points to the black mass where the pilot should be.

"Da, most of the transports on this base are manned by outdated AI's." She turns around and looks at the black mass. "They may be outdated, but they get the job done." 

As she finishes talking, the helicopter takes off the helipad. It jostles back and forth as it struggles to lift its massive body into the air, fighting against the arctic wind. 

Hyena shifts uncomfortably as the metal behemoth struggles to maintain its altitude. 41 notices and shoots him a comforting smile. He smiles awkwardly under his balaclava as he gets used to the jostling. Hyena looks outside the window to ease his discomfort. 

Outside is a pitch-black winter wasteland. Not a building in sight, just the hills of snow piled upon each other. Any evidence that there was a base out here is gone. 

"Hyena." A crackly voice calls from Hyena's belt worn radio. Hyena unlatches the radio from his belt and raises it to his mouth.

"Repeat?" Hyena asks over the radio.

"Oh good, the radio's working." A familiar voice crackles through the speaker. 

"Commander?"

"Yes, it's me. We just got communications back online. It's ancient, but it still works." The Commander assures. "How far are you from the LZ?" 

PPsh-41 takes the radio from Hyena.

"We are close, Commander." 41 transmits. "Should be less than an hour."

"Good, then we're still on schedule. I want you guys back here before daybreak." The Commander warns. "I don't want SF giving any more attention towards us. Hyena."

Hyena takes back the radio. "Yes, Commander."

"There's a gift for you in the cabin of the helicopter. Something that we found when we recovered you. It should be under the seats."

Hyena looks at the radio with a confused expression. He shuffles under the seat with one hand until he hits something. He brings up the package and looks at it. The words "FULTON DEVICE" are emblazoned on the packaging. 

"A Fulton device? Is this how we're going to acquire the supplies?" Hyena asks.

"Affirmative. With our meager supplies, we upgraded them to carry more weight. PPsh-41 will attach them to the supplies and send them into the air. We've refitted one of our older helicopters to pick up the supplies." The Commander explains.

"Hey, comrade. We are getting close to the LZ." 41 whispers to Hyena.

"We're approaching the LZ commander. Going radio silent."

"Understood, good luck, the both of you. We're counting on you." 

The radio goes silent. Hyena reattaches the radio to his belt and readies his weapon. 41 picks up her gun as well and gets up from her seat. 

The helicopter begins its descent and hovers over the snowy ground. Behind the hill, it uses as cover, lies a small town with an ample space cleared out in the middle. 

The duo exit the helicopter. As they touch the hard-packed ground, the helicopter begins its ascent. It disappears into the night sky in a matter of seconds. 

"Are you ready, comrade?" PPsh-41 asks confidently 

"Let's do this," Hyena responds with the same energy. "Mission Start."


	4. Chapter 4: Episode 1 Snowy Hell

October 27, 2062

0200

"The snows getting heavier." Hyena extends his hand out, letting the snow pile up on the fingerless gloves he wears. 

"Da, Comrade," PPsh-41 says, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Let us finish the mission quick so we can go back home." 

Hyena smiles underneath his balaclava. "Understood. Let's not keep the Commander waiting."

PPsh-41 gives him a smiling nod and walks ahead of him, climbing over the hill they were dropped behind. Hyena follows after maintaining the space between him and her. 

From the atop the hill, both soldiers can see down into the town and into the objective. The town below was abandoned long before SF moved in as apparent from the destroyed buildings. Destroyed masonry and holes caused by shelling dictate that the town was once the site of a battle some time ago. Hyena knows not who fought the battle, but from the scene in front of him, he can assume there was no victor.

Hyena takes out a pair of binoculars and looks through them towards the objective. Just as the Commander said, the FOB is still under construction. The walls have yet to be finished, and the turrets atop the completed sections are offline. He scans the area in front of the walls to see enemy patrols marching along their predesignated pathways. They bear unfamiliar weapons and outfits that could be best described as "lewd." 

"What's the verdict, comrade," PPsh-41 asks. 

Hyena points to three different areas of the FOB. "It seems the enemies are most concentrated at these points." He raises the hood of his BDU. "If you're quiet, you can probably sneak through the patrols and attach the devices to the supplies." He sighs. "I'm not sure what will happen when you do it, though…" 

PPsh-41 looks at him, puzzled. "What do you mean?" 

"Well, it's going to be obvious when the supplies are extracted. A massive crate flying off into the air is pretty difficult not to see." Hyena rubs his chin. "Once that happens, the base will be on full alert." 

"Well, that won't be a problem," PPsh-41 says gleefully. 

"And why's that."

"Because you will be watching over me, my ангел-хранитель."

Hyena looks at her with a slight smile. "I will do what I can." He points to a ruined church with a tower that overlooks the town. "I will set up there and provide overwatch. Remember that we have no ways of communicating."

"Yes, comrade, I know." She says, looking at the FOB. "We meet back at the LZ at 0300, whether we complete the primary objective or not." She looks at Hyena with soft eyes. "It's better to get back home alive than not at all." 

Hyena nods and looks towards the ruined church. He gets up from his kneeling position and heads down the hill while PPsh-41 heads in the direction of the FOB.

The streets of the town are utterly devoid of sound except for the crunching of Hyena's boots on snow. The darkness combined with the snow, slow his progress to the church, and he can feel his energy being ebbed away with each step. However, he presses on until he reaches the doors of the church. He slings his rifle in front of him and enters. 

The first thing through the door is his m200. He slowly opens the door so that he can squeeze through. Upon entering, Hyena notices that part of the roof of the church caved in, allowing the snow to pour into the main area. Everything inside is in disarray as if the people living here were in a hurry to move everything. Hyena shakes the idea and heads up the side stairs leading to the tower. 

As he climbs to the second floor of the church, he notices a metallic glint before climbing the ladder into the tower. He cautiously walks over to it and finds the glint barely peeking out from under the snow. He wipes away the snow to reveal a Makarov handgun. He looks around the pistol and sees out of the corner of his eyes a boot submerged in snow. He picks up the gun and moves to the boot. Hyena kneels down and picks up the boot only to find that it is attached to a dismembered leg. He quickly throws it back down. 

"That wasn't very nice, comrade." A voice coughs from the darkness.

Hyena points the Makarov towards the voice and cocks it. He pulls out a lighter and flicks it activating its small flame. He shines it towards the sound. 

From the flame is revealed the body of a girl. She wears a blue ushanka with a red star upon it and a red scarf that goes from her neck to her navel. Her outfit compromises of what used to be a blue shawl, white skirt, and black stockings. Now, however, her once beautiful outfit has been ripped to shreds, and she lies in a corner, disheveled. Her right leg is missing, blown off at the knee, and her left leg is completely gone. A combination of dried blood and mechanical parts poke out from her missing limbs. 

"It's not nice to stare." The girl says in a severe tone. 

Hyena looks her up and down. "You one of the commanders, girls?" 

"Yes. Well, at least I was until he abandoned my squad here. Are you the rescue team?" She laughs. "You're only a week late."

Hyena walks over to her and kneels in front of her. "No. I'm actually here on a supply run mission. What's your name."

"Makarov." She looks at the handgun Hyena holds.

Hyena looks down at the handgun as well. "I take it this is yours? You want it back?"

"No, you keep it, comrade. You're going to need it." Makarov says with a smile as she lifts her shot off arms.

"A stupid question." Hyena places the handgun in his right holster. "Sorry."

"It's fine. Go complete your mission. I'll be here." Makarov says, still smiling. 

"I'll be back for you. I promise." Hyena says, getting up from his position. "No soldier left behind." He says, approaching the ladder to the tower. 

Makarov silently watches Hyena climb the ladder, her red eyes fixed on him. Hyena climbs the ladder and makes it into the tower. The tower is small and only has four windows. Luckily for Hyena, all four windows point towards the objective. He mounts the bipod of the m200 to the window and scopes in. 

Hyena scans the surroundings through the scope until he catches a glimpse of PPsh-41. He can see her attach a Fulton device to a red shipping crate. She moves away from the crate and takes cover behind some sandbags and activates the Fulton device. The crate flies quickly into the air just as expected, and just as Hyena expected, the alarms of the base start to go off. 

"Shit." Hyena curses under his breath.

He scopes back in and follows PPsh-41's movements completely. She moves quickly to the next crate and attaches the device to it, sending another shipping crate into the air. As she moves to the next one, Hyena spots a shielded enemy unit about to intercept PPsh-41's sprint. 

Hyena loads a shot and fires. The armored unit hits the ground dead just before encountering PPsh-41. PPsh-41 stops her sprint in front of the dead unit and turns around. Hyena scopes in on her just in time to see her give a slight nod. She turns back around and continues her sprint.

Another unit tries to intercept PPsh-41, but Hyena takes it down with another well-placed shot. He loads another bullet into his gun in preparation for the next enemy. PPsh-41 enters into a building from which Hyena cannot see into. He takes this time to look at his watch.

"0250," He says aloud. "The operation is almost over and only two crates." He says to himself, disappointingly. 

Just as he finishes, PPsh-41 exits the building. Hyena scopes back onto her and finds that she is grasping her shoulder, and her gun is missing. She starts to limp towards the third crate and just barely attaches the device to it before a patrol turns the corner. She limps over to a wall and rests against it. Hyena can see that the enemy is starting to zero in on her position, and if something doesn't happen, they'll find and eliminate her. 

Hyena scopes in on a larger patrol comprising of 6 hostiles. He begins to take them out one by one without any space between shots. He then turns to a patrol near PPsh-41 and takes out the most armored of the ones there. This draws the attention away from PPsh-41 as the patrols move from her location and start to move towards Hyenas.

"Good. Let them come." Hyena says under his breath as he loads another magazine.

Instead of focusing on the closer patrols, Hyena aims for the farthest patrols and fires at will. Each shot finds its mark, and the escape route for PPsh-41 becomes ever more apparent. She takes the opportunity granted and escapes the base and disappears into the town. 

Hyena lets out a sigh of relief. He leaves the m200 against the window and climbs down the ladder.

"Things are getting really hectic out there, comrade," Makarov says as she sees Hyena.

"Eyup. It's about time for us to ditch this party." Hyena says, picking up Makarov and princess carrying her. 

"My hero," Makarov says sarcastically.

Hyena ignores her comment and climbs down the stairs with her. He quickly heads out the door he came in from and starts to run down the road. As he runs, he can hear encroaching crunching from behind him. Cold sweat drips down Hyena's face as he struggles to run in the heavy snowfall while carrying Makarov. 

As if to make things worse for the duo an enemy unit approaches from in front of them. Hyena quickly drops Makarov and pulls out his handgun. The enemy unit fires at Hyena but misses. Hyena fires two shots. Both shots hit their mark, and the enemy falls to the ground dead. He picks Makarov back up and continues running.

"Shit, I didn't expect them to be this fast," Hyena struggles to say through haggard breathing. He kicks open the door of a nearby building and heads inside. 

The building, from the looks of it, used to be a bar of some sort. The bottles behind the bar table are still in place, having not been moved in a very long time. The once adorned windows have long since shattered, and the wood floor has signs of shrinkage from the snowfall. 

Hyena steps into the bar and makes his way behind the bar table and places Makarov against the table leaning forward.

"Are you alright, comrade?" She asks innocently. 

"Yeah. Yeah." Hyena responds through haggard breaths. "Just need to catch my breath. That's all." He says this while leaning forward, his hands on his knees. 

"We must move quickly. The enemy will soon be upon us."

Hyena looks at her with a face of contempt. "This would be easy if I hadn't picked up additional weight." He jokes.

"I'm not that heavy!" She doesn't try to hide the embarrassment in her voice.

Hyena lets out a dry chuckle. He regains his breath and stands up straight. Hyena looks over the bar table to the outside. He can spot movement in the darkness and can hear the distinct sound of crunching snow. He takes place next to Makarov and checks the magazine of the handgun. 

"8 shots remaining," Hyena says plainly.

"Make every shot count comrade," Makarov says with a weak smirk.

Hyena nods solemnly. Just then, the sound of metal on wood reaches both their ears. Hyena peeks over the bar table and sees an enemy unit enter the bar by itself. He sits back down next to Makarov and waits. 

_ .Step._

Hyena lunges over the bar table and tackles the enemy unit. He catches the unit off guard and easily knocks it over. He struggles with the unit on the ground, trying to put the unit in a chokehold, but the unit fights back. After a bit of struggling, he finally puts the unit in a chokehold, and with one fluid motion, he snaps the unit's neck. 

The unit ceases; it's struggling and stops moving altogether. Hyena then takes his gun and turns it around so that he holds it by its barrel. He then pistol whips the units head until its helmet breaks. He stops upon looking at what is underneath the bulbous helmet. 

Underneath the helmet lies the beautiful face of a woman. Her hair is brown and long as it comes completely undone with the shattering of the mask. Hyena hesitates with his handgun upon looking a the unconscious face. 

"Finish her off," Makarov says, having somehow made it atop the bar table. 

Hyena looks at Makarov then back to the unit. He stares at the unconscious woman before him and is frozen stiff. He looks back to Makarov and quickly assesses her condition. Upon finishing his assessment, he looks back at the unit and smiles. He raises his handgun and brings it down on the unconscious units face. 

_Thwack. Thwack. Thwack._

Hyena crushes the units face with the butt of his handgun. He continues, and with each hit, the face turns from human too machine. Each hit reveals both blood and metal. He continues until the unit's head is all but crushed, the evidence of a beautiful face all but gone. 

"Good job. Now that vespid won't reveal our location." Makarov says, coughing into her shoulder. 

"Let's keep moving," Hyena says, ignoring her comment putting his handgun back into its holster. He picks her up again, this time soldier carrying her, and heads out of the bar. 

Outside, the snow has ceased falling. Hyena lets himself breath a sigh of relief and checks his vicinity. Nothing. He listens carefully only to find that the crunching of snow has ceased, and the alarms have gone quiet. 

"Looks like we're in the clear." He says to Makarov.

"Da, it would seem so, comrade," Makarov responds with relief.

Hyena runs down the road with Makarov on his back. He heads up the hill where the mission began and heads towards the original LZ. PPsh-41 is nowhere to be found. Hyena checks his watch to find the time reads 0430. 

"Shit." Hyena curses.

Hyena puts down, Makarov gently on the hard-packed snow. He kneels down next to her and grabs his belt-mounted radio. He holds it to his mouth but does not transmit. His mouth trembles as he holds the receiver to it. 

After a moment, Hyena presses the transmitter. "This is Hyena requesting immediate extraction!" He quickly yells into the radio. He turns the transmitter off, placing the radio into the snow, and withdraws the handgun from its holster, pointing it towards the hill. 

"Hyena?" A mature Russian accented voice garbles over the radio.

Hyena picks the radio up with one hand but does not look away from the hill. "Yes, this is Hyena. Requesting immediate extraction. I have wounded."

"This is DP28 reading, tovarisch. Sending extraction. ETA 30 minutes." The voice responds over the radio.

"Understood. Holding position until then."

Hyena places the radio back into the snow. He looks at Makarov.

"Looks like we're getting out of here alive," Hyena says, feigning cheerfulness. 

Makarov looks at him; her disrepair made even more prominent by the contrasts between the dark metal that protrudes out of her and the pure white snow. "I'll believe it when we're back at base." She says, holding back her hope. 

Hyena looks at her and gives her a smile from underneath his balaclava.

_Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch._

Hyena turns around back towards the hill to see a figure charging at him full speed. He lets loose 5 shots from his gun, but each shot bounces off the new aggressor. The aggressor is another one of the female units, but this one bears a shield and a shock rod. The aggressor continues to charge down the hill.

"It's a Guard!" Makarov shouts from behind. "Run!"

Hyena doesn't turn to look at Makarov. "I won't leave you behind!" He shouts back, standing up, preparing to take the charge. 

The Guard stops her charge just in front of Hyena and takes a battle-ready stance. Before Hyena can adjust himself, she stabs at him with the shock rod, causing him to drop his gun. Hyena dodges the dangerous part of the rod and grabs it by the shaft. He then rips it from the grasp of the Guard. Both the Guard and Makarov make confused faces. 

Hyena takes the rod and slams it against the Guards shield putting the Guard on the defensive. The rod takes all of Hyena's strength to wield effectively, and each blow he lands takes the breath right out of him. 

The Guard, on the other hand, lacks the limitations of the human body and simply guards perfectly against each of his blows. She makes no attempt to go back on the offensive and simply takes each blow as they come.

"She's whittling you down comrade!" Makarov shouts. "She's holding for reinforcements!"

"I know!" Hyena says, landing another blow to the Guards shield. "But so are we!" He slams the shock rod against the Guards shield with a mighty swing shattering both the shield and the shock rod. This causes Hyena to flinch. 

The Guard capitalizes on Hyena's opening and tackles him to the ground. She tries to lay punches into him, but they come out weak and amateurish. Hyena blocks her punches and grabs hold of her waist and forces her on her back. He wraps his hands around her neck and begins to choke the Guard.

The Guard, seemingly unaffected by the choking, lays a blow straight into Hyena's side, causing him to reel. He lands backward on his back, and only then does he notice his gun in the snow. He begins to crawl to it, but the Guard sees his new objective. She grabs hold of his leg and drags him back to her. Hyena grabs at the snow, trying to find an anchor but finds none. 

The Guard drags Hyena back and gets on top of him once again. She imitates what he did to her and wraps her hands around Hyena's neck. Hyena gasps for air as the mechanical hands wrap around his throat. He throws an adrenaline-filled punch towards the Guards, visor, shattering it. The Guard loosens its grip around Hyena's neck, allowing him to escape from under her. He quickly crawls to the gun and grabs hold of it. He jumps to his feet and points the gun towards the Guard. 

But he doesn't fire. For just a moment, he hesitates upon looking at the unveiled face of the Guard. The face of a young woman greets him once again. This time, however, this face is full of life and looks at him with teary eyes. Her black pigtails, with a tuft in front dyed purple, and her lewd outfit cause Hyena's hand to tremble with uncertainty. 

"Shoot her, Hyena," Makarov says quietly from behind him. 

Hyena looks at Makarov from over his shoulder. "She's beaten. It's over." Hyena looks at the Guard and waves the gun towards the hill. "Leave." He commands.

The Guard gets up from the ground and stares at Hyena with confused eyes. She continues to watch him as she walks back towards the hill. As she reaches the top of the hill, the sound of helicopter rotors can be heard. She quickly disappears down the hill. 

"You're going to regret that," Makarov barks. 

Hyena shrugs as he looks towards the descending helicopter. He picks up Makarov and heads towards the helicopter. As the aircraft descending the doors open revealing PPsh-41. 

"Good to see you, comrade!" She shouts over the sound of helicopter rotors. She notices the person Hyena is carrying. "Makarov? Is that you?" 

"Don't act surprised идиот," Makarov spouts back. 

Hyena places Makarov into the helicopter then jumps in himself. He puts her in a seat and sits down next to her. Her damaged body forces her into a leaning position, and she leans against Hyena's shoulder. 

PPsh-41 notices, and a big smile appears on her face. "Looks like you two get along quite nicely. The Commander will be pleased." 

Makarov notices how the situation looks and blushes. "It's not like that." She quietly says.

The helicopter takes off and heads back towards base. As it leaves, the new sun begins to show itself on the horizon. Hyena watches the sunrise and takes out the handgun and checks the magazine. 

"Three shots left." He thinks to himself. He lets out a sigh and nods off.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hyena!" A familiar voice calls out. "Hyena! Wake up, you dumbass!"

Hyena opens his eyes to find himself on a beach, he can hear the waves silently coming ashore. Hyena can see seagulls fly overhead from on his back. The sun shines brightly in the clear blue sky. He raises himself to find that he's wearing his usual jungle fatigues and brown boots. He looks towards the voice to see two men looking over him.

Both men wear the same outfit as him and bear an "MSF" logo patch on their shoulders. Both men have their standard issued balaclavas off, revealing their faces. The first man has copper-toned skin, just like Hyena, while the other has pale skin with freckles on his face.

"Damn, dude, you were really out cold." The copper-toned man says with glee. He takes a seat next to Hyena on the sand. "Enjoy your rest?"

"Yeah, it was nice. I had the weirdest dream, though." Hyena says, stretching his arms and legs.

"Really, what was it about?" The pale man asks, taking a seat to the right of Hyena.

Hyena takes off his balaclava and bears a frown. "It was weird; there were women who bore guns they were named after." He scratches his head. "And there was this weird conflict that was going on."

The copper-toned man lies on his back and places his hands behind his head. "That does sound weird. What do you think Timber?"

The pale man copies the copper-toned man and lies on his back. "I have to agree with Steel, that does sound like a weird dream."

Hyena shakes his head. "It gets even weirder." He brings his knees close to his chest and hugs them. "I had a dream that mother base got destroyed, and a lot of our guys died." Hyena chuckles dismissively. "But what are the odds of that happening."

The men laugh. Steel and Timber stop laughing, but Hyena continues to laugh, but hysterically. Tears start to form in his eyes as he laughs, and clouds begin to form in the cloudless sky.

Hyena stops laughing and wipes his eyes. "Sorry, just thinking about that is too funny. I mean, like how could that even happen?" He lets out a giggle.

Steel and Timber remain silent. The clouds darken the sky completely, not letting a single ray of sunshine through. The tide of the ocean starts to recede.

Hyena's face starts to twitch as he watches something emerge from the ocean. At first, he can't make the shape out, but as it approaches its silhouette takes the form of a person. The person moves towards Hyena at a steady pace, the rest of its body becoming visible as it makes its way out of the water.

The figure stops at the shoreline, and a sliver of sunshine makes it through the clouds illuminating it. The figure is a woman bearing armor that Hyena can vaguely remember. It's only when he sees her long brown hair and her beautiful face does he make the connection.

"I killed you." Hyena whispers to himself.

The figure tilts its head at Hyena, her face in a neutral expression. She slowly walks towards Hyena, who starts to move backward on his elbows.

"Guys help m-" He cuts himself off as he looks at Steel's emotionless face, a bullet hole predominately in his forehead. "Timb-" He looks at Timber to see he also bears the same face and bullet hole.

Hyena looks forward, seeing that the woman has picked up her pace, moving ever quicker to his location. He moves backward, but he goes nowhere as he feels his elbows sinking further and further into the sand. He tries to turn around and crawl on his stomach, but he makes no more progress than on his back.

Hyena feels a hand grab his shoulder and turns him around on his back. The woman finally caught him. She wraps her hands around his neck and begins to choke him, her seemingly innocent face contrasting her actions. She leans her head in close to Hyena's face as if she is leaning in for a kiss, her purple eyes meeting Hyena's dark browns.

Hyena struggles against her hands, but cannot find the power in his arms. He can feel himself losing consciousness, but strangely enough, he feels at peace. Just as the darkness starts to envelop his sight, a sudden light appears in the distance, and he can no longer feel hands against his neck.

The light is dim and stands still, just barely shining in the overwhelming darkness. Then, just like a train, it comes straight to Hyena's vision, and it envelops his sight.

Hyena wakes up with a start and grabs his neck. His breathing is heavy and unsteady as he checks his surroundings. Nothing but the sight of metal and the dull sound of helicopter rotors turning. He steadies his breath as he adjusts his eyes to the light shining through the windows. He looks to his left to see that Makarov is still leaning against him, her eyes shut, and her cap on the seat next to her.

Hyena places a hand on his face. "Just a dream." He assures himself, his voice weak.

"Some dream, eh, comrade?" PPsh-41, who sits in front of him, remarks her head directed out the window.

Hyena takes off his balaclava and looks at her with a stern, but exhausted look. "You were watching me?"

"Yes, you were tossing and turning," PPsh-41 says with a worried tone. "I thought of waking you, but your face went so peaceful near the end."

Hyena rubs his head and looks out the window. Nothing below the helicopter, but white snow for miles.

"How far are we from the base?" Hyena asks, resting his head back against his seat.

PPsh-41 looks at the AI pilot then looks back at Hyena. "Should be less than an hour."

"Good. I want to sleep in an actual bed." Hyena shifts uncomfortably in the seat. He looks down at his blood and oil-covered BDU. "And probably take a shower."

PPsh-41 looks at him with a sweet smile. "That's a good idea, comrade."

The helicopter enters the base's airspace at around 0530. It struggles to land on the landing pad and comes down roughly. The old landing gears struggle to maintain the weight of the helicopter and start to fold under the pressure. Just when they are about to wrap under themselves, the helicopter's rotors shutoff, and the folding stops.

Hyena opens the door of the helicopter and is greeted by the familiar face of the Commander and DP28. An unknown woman with long blonde hair, wearing a brown ensemble consisting of a skirt and military jacket paired with black and grey stockings and a military styled black cap, stands behind them next to a stretcher.

Hyena lets PPsh-41 exit first then follows her. He then picks up the still sleeping Makarov and holds her in his arms. The unknown woman rushes forward with the stretcher and moves it in front of Hyena. He places Makarov on it, and the woman rushes off with the stretcher into a nearby building without saying a word.

PPsh-41 and Hyena stand shoulder to shoulder and salute the Commander. The Commander gives a quick salute back.

"Good to see you in one piece." The Commander says with relief. "At ease."

Hyena's eyes dart around the base. Its the first time he sees it in the daytime, and he takes in the sights. From what he observes, the landing pad is in the middle of the base, and the base is surrounded by a 16-foot tall cement wall in a square formation. Automated turrets rest on each of the four corners of the walls, and within the walls lie two significant buildings, one is the infirmary and barracks while the other is a mystery.

The Commander notices Hyena's eyes. "I forgot this is your first time seeing the base, Hyena. Take it in. This is your new home."

"Not bad," Hyena says. "Its no mother base, but it'll do."

The Commander gives a toothy smile. "I'm glad it meets your expectations. In truth, we were able to renovate because of your efforts."

Hyena tilts his head. "Were the crates the right ones?"

The Commander starts to walk away and beckons Hyena to follow. Hyena catches up to the Commander and walks side by side with him with PPsh-41 and DP28 following behind.

"Yes, they were the right ones. Parts. Rations. Building Supplies." The Commander can't help but smile. "I can consider the mission a complete success. We should celebrate."

"I think its too early to celebrate," Hyena can't help but smile at the prospect. "Isn't this base still under direct threat from the enemy?"

The Commander laughs. "I think the enemy will always have an eye on this base." He puts his hand on Hyena's shoulder. "It's our responsibility to celebrate when we can. Never know when it might be your last."

Hyena rubs his head. "I suppose there's no arguing there."

Commander ruffles Hyena's hair. "Good. Meet me in my office at 2000."

Hyena stops and salutes the Commander. "Understood, Boss."

The Commander gives a wave and continues walks and heads into the mysterious building with DP28 leaving PPsh-41 and Hyena alone.

"You know how to get back to the barracks, 41?" Hyena asks.

"Yes, comrade." She shyly says

Hyena looks at her with a confused expression but just shrugs it off. He follows her into the other main building and traverses the corridors. He takes mental notes of the number of twists and turns he takes before reaching his destination. They reach his barracks within a few minutes and stop at the door.

"Well, here you are," PPsh-41 says quietly.

"Thanks, 41." Hyena places his hand on her shoulder. "Dunno what I would do without cha." He gives her a toothy smile.

PPsh-41 blushes and lowers her head. She quickly walks down the hall and turns the corner disappearing from Hyena's field of vision.

"Strange how she's so confident in combat, but becomes bashful when out of combat." Hyena thinks to himself, entering his barracks.

Hyena is almost instantly taken aback as he enters his barracks. The once shabby room has been completely redecorated. The floors have been carpeted, and the walls have a fresh coat of paint on them. Where the lockers used to be is a mahogany wardrobe. A new bed has been moved into the room as well as a table and mini-fridge. He checks the mini-fridge to find it stocked with alcoholic beverages as well as milk and orange juice.

"Does he expect me to be entertaining guest or something," Hyena says confused.

He goes to the wardrobe and opens it. A new type of BDU has been put in the closet, and his jungle fatigues have been washed and hung up. Hyena takes out the BDU to better inspect it. Unlike his current one, this one has a much more comfortable interior and feels more durable. It has fur lining by the hood and comes with a white scarf that can cover up to his nose.

What catches his eye, though, is another outfit in the wardrobe beside his BDU and fatigues. He takes the outfit and looks at it. A red trench coat accompanied by black slacks and black military boots. Hyena checks underneath the trench coat to find a white shirt and black tie. Inside the trench coats, pocket is a red beret with the G&K logo on it. There's a note attached to the sleeve of the coat.

"Wear this around the base and when going out." Hyena reads. He sighs. "Is this G&K a formal military or what?"

"It's actually a PMC." A Russian-accented voice responds.

Hyena quickly pulls out his handgun and points it towards the voice only to find a pink-haired girl. Her pink hair has been braided long past her hip, and she wears a black Russian sailor cap and uniform. She leans against the doorway, looking at Hyena.

The girl looks at Hyena with red unblinking eyes. "I heard you're the new merc that saved the base." She says, unconcerned about the gun pointed at her.

Hyena lowers his gun and lets out a sigh. "Is everyone here a Soviet?"

"If you mean Russian, then yes." The pink-haired girl says, stepping into the room. She jumps onto his bed. "I'm PPS-43, by the way."

"Hyena," Hyena says, putting the uniform on the table and getting it prepared to be worn.

"I was directed by my big sister to show you to the showers." She says, stretching on the bed. "This bed is really comfy."

Hyena sighs and looks at PPS-43. "What are you exactly?"

PPS-43 looks at him with confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, are you human or not?"

"No, I'm not human. I'm a T-Doll created by I.O.P."

Hyena raises an eyebrow. "So what, you're a robot essentially?"

"In a sense. Yes."

He walks over to her and stands over her. He reaches out his hand and pinches her cheek. She recoils at the pinch.

"Don't feel metallic. Then again, neither did Makarov." He says to himself. "And it looks like you can feel pain."

"Don't just touch me out of nowhere!" PPS-43 says, holding her cheek.

Hyena waves his hand. "My bad. My bad."

PPS-43 pouts and looks away from Hyena.

"C'mon, don't be like that," Hyena apologetically. "I'm sorry."

She looks at him with spears in her eyes. "Let's just go to the showers so I can be done with you."

Hyena lets out a heavy breath. "Alright. Lead the way." He says, picking up the uniform from off the table.

PPS-43 walks out of the room with Hyena following behind at a distance. They walk down the hallway and approach a door with the sign "SHOWERS" over it. They both enter the room. The room has tiled floors with a drainage spot located in the middle of the room. There are four showerheads placed against the wall. Between each of the shower heads is a border separating one from the other, which allows some semblance of privacy. On the opposite wall are places to hang clothing and hangers.

"I'll leave you to it, comrade," PPS-43 says emotionless.

She leaves the room, leaving Hyena alone. He places his clothes on a hanger and strips his BDU, leaving the BDU on the ground. He steps into one of the showers and turns it on. The warm water feels nice against his naked body. He begins to wash the oil and blood from his skin. It's only now that he realizes how grimy he has become since coming to the base. As he washes his hair, he can hear the door to the room open.

The water from the shower beating down on his face prevents him from looking at the newcomer, but he can hear their footsteps distinctly.

_Step. Step. Step. Step._

The footsteps stop directly behind Hyena. Hyena ignores the newcomer thinking that they are just placing their belongings on a hanger. He washes the shampoo out of his hair and opens his eyes, turning slightly around in the process. He can see that the newcomer is DP28 and that she stands right behind him. He turns back around and faces the shower.

"Can I help you DP28?" He asks hesitantly.

She remains silent. Hyena can hear the sounds of a buckle being undone and clothes hitting the tiled floor. She takes a place next to him, the border being the only thing separating them, and turns on the adjacent shower. She stands taller than the border and can easily look into Hyena's section.

Hyena keeps his eyes forward and rushes to finish his shower. He finishes his shower by scrubbing down his dog tags and turns off the shower. As he turns around to leave the shower area, he catches a glimpse of DP28 from the corner of his eye. Her body is entirely turned towards him, and her hand's rest on the border, looking into Hyena's section. A solemn smile rests on her face as she has a clear view of Hyena's front side. Hyena quickly covers himself with a towel and turns away embarrassed. He heads towards his clothes that rest on hangers.

He puts on the officer uniform he was given and leaves the showers. He keeps the beret in his right hand. He checks his watch.

"1930." Hyena reads. "Best head to the Commander's office," he says to himself. He walks down the corridors back to the helipad. From there, he makes his way to the mysterious building and enters it.

Compared to the dark hallways of the other building, this new building's corridors are well lit, and the floors are wood compared to the metal tiles of the other building. From the entrance of the building, Hyena makes his way down the hallway following arrows on the wall. He is lead to a wall with directions on it. The words "COMMANDERS OFFICE" are emblazoned at the top, and Hyena heads in its direction.

After some walking through increasingly decorative corridors, he finally makes it to a door which he believes is the Commander's office. As he approaches the door, he starts to hear music coming from inside. He puts his hand on the doorknob and turns it opening the door inward. He is greeted by the Commander sitting in a seat behind a desk. A guitar is in his hands, and he strums the strings.

"Ja- Soldat, Ja nie spał piat' liet" The Commander sings completely ignorant of the newcomer in the room. The Commander continues singing as Hyena enters the room. "I u mienia pod głazami mieszki Ja sam nie widieł, No mnie tak skazali."

The room, from what Hyena quickly scans, itself is quite barren except for the desk and a picture on the wall of a group of men wearing military uniforms posing for a photo. The floors are solid wood, and the walls are painted a dark blue. There lies a chair in front of the desk which Hyena takes a seat in. The Commander finally notices Hyena's presence and stops his singing placing the guitar against the desk.

The Commander looks at Hyena with a stern look. "You're early. It's only 1945."

"Yeah, well, something happened in the showers, and I ended up rushing here," Hyena says, scratching his head.

The Commander scans Hyena's outfit and nods. "Looks good on you." He gets up and moves to a cupboard in the corner of the room.

Hyena checks himself out briefly. "Yeah, well, I'm not used to wearing clothes like these. I think you're spending too much on me."

The Commander laughs. "On the contrary, I think I'm spending too little." He withdraws a bottle of vodka from the cupboard and two shot glasses. "You're the only other human on base, and you did a great job on the mission, better than expected."

Hyena fiddles his thumbs and blushes. "You honor me, Boss. I only did what was necessary for the mission. Nothing more."

"Don't be so humble." The Commander places the bottle and glasses on the desk and sits in his chair, folding his hands in front of him. "Not only did you secure the crates, but you brought home Makarov, who quite frankly, I thought was gone for good." The Commander shrugs his shoulders. "That's praiseworthy work if I've ever seen it."

"Speaking of Makarov…." Hyena starts

"Don't worry about her." The Commander interrupts. "She'll be repaired and returned to duty within the day." The Commander places a glass in front of Hyena. "Let's not worry about that and drink!" He pours some vodka into both their glasses.

"What are we drinking too?" Hyena asks.

"Well, first…" The Commander lifts his glass and toasts with Hyena. "To the fallen T-Dolls of Echelon 1. May you rest in peace."

"May they rest in peace." Hyena repeats.

Both men down their shots. The Commander refills both their glasses.

"You next, Hyena."

Hyena thinks for a bit holding the glass in his hand. He toasts with the Commander. "To my fallen brothers of Mother Base. It was an honor to fight by all your sides."

"To the fallen of Mother Base."

They both down their drinks. Both men look at each other smiling, but their eyes tell of their sadness. They place their respective glasses on the table. The Commander gets up again and grabs the vodka bottle and glasses and heads toward the cupboard.

"By the way, Hyena." The Commander starts.

"Yes, Boss?"

"I got news about your friend. The one being held at the region HQ."

"I hope its good news," Hyena says, barely containing his excitement.

"Well, its a bit of both. The good news is that your friend is being absorbed into G&K just like you were, and according to the news, he's adjusting just fine to his new position."

"And the bad news."

"The bad news is that he's not going to be redeployed to our base. He's been assigned to another Commander, and you probably won't see him for a while."

Hyena looks down at his hands. "Well, I guess it could be worse. I'm just glad he's still alive."

The Commander walks over to Hyena and pats him on the shoulder. "I figured you'd be alright with it." The Commander walks back to his seat and sits down. "That reminds me. How prepared are you for another mission?"

"I would say I'm well prepared for another mission," Hyena says confidently. "Just tell me when." Hyena stands up from his chair.

"Good." The Commander picks up his guitar and starts to strum it again. "I'll let you know the details later. Dismissed."

Hyena gives a quick salute and leaves the room. The Commander picks up the stringing of his guitar. He lets out a cough and begins singing again.

"Ja - sałdat

I u mienia niet baszki,

Mnie otbili jejo sapagami

Jo-jo-jo, kambat ariot

Razorwannyj rot u kambata

Patamu szto granata...

Biełaja wata,

Krasnaja wata nie leczit sałdata"

EPISODE 1 END

(As always thanks for reading another chapter in this ongoing fanfic. The song the commander sings, if you're interested is called Ya Soldat on youtube. Be sure toleave a review so I know where to improve and how I can make these chapters any better. Thanks for reading!)


	6. Chapter 6: Episode 2 Data Extraction

November 1st,2062

Alpha Base

1300

_Knock Knock_

Hyena wakes from his bed to the knock at the door leading into his room. He sits up groggily and looks towards the door. He wipes his eyes as he gets out of the bed. He wears a black tank top, his dog tags hanging from his neck, and wears black boxers. He slowly attempts to pull on his black slacks.

_Knockknockknockknockknockknock_

Hyena rushes the door, his slacks sagging at the waist, and opens it.

"WHAT!?" Hyena shouts through the now open doorway.

Hyena makes eye contact with the frantic knocker. He recognizes this cat-eared girl that stands outside his door.

"IDW?" He questions.

"Present, nya." IDW answers giving a playful salute. "You really sleep in late." She says, pushing past Hyena and entering his room. "Long cat-nap, nya?" She says, inspecting the room.

Hyena places a hand to his face and another by his slacks to hold them up. "Something like that." He says, slightly annoyed. "Wait, why are you here?"

IDW lunges into his bed and starts to roll around on it, ripping up the sheets from underneath the bed. She stops rolling around and looks at Hyena. "The Commeownder wanted me to get you. Something about a mission, nya."

"I see," Hyena says, scratching his neck. "So, the boss has a new mission for me." He says, pondering the aspect.

IDW tilts her head and looks at Hyena intently. Hyena spots her from the corner of his eye and turns toward her.

"What?" Hyena asks.

Without a word, she gets up from the bed and moves towards Hyena and places her hands on his face, squishing his cheeks. She rubs his cheeks once then removes her hands.

"What was that for," Hyena asks slightly perturbed.

"Nothing, nya. Just making sure you were human." IDW says with a big smile.

"As human as it gets," Hyena says with a deadpan expression. "Now, do you mind leaving."

IDW makes a pouty face. "I don't wanna, nya." She makes another colossal leap and lands on Hyena's bed.

"Fine," Hyena says. He pulls up his slacks to his waist and moves to the bed from the doorway. "Just make some space on the bed."

IDW shifts herself towards the head of the bed, leaving a lot of room near the foot. Hyena nods as he picks up the rest of his uniform from off the ground. He slips on the white shirt and tie, tucking the shirt into his pants. He puts on the trenchcoat leaving the front open.

IDW slides off the bed and starts to sneak to the mini-fridge. Hyena quickly spots her trying to sneak around him.

"Don't touch the fridge. There's nothing in there that a cat would want." Hyena says, fixing the beret on his head.

IDW turns towards Hyena and pouts. She walks back to the bed and sits on the edge of it. Hyena heads towards the doorway and beckons IDW to follow.

"You're not staying in my room alone," Hyena says in a severe tone. "I still haven't acquainted myself with the layout of the base."

"So, you need a guide?" IDW says smugly.

Hyena lets out a defeated sigh. "Yes. Yes, I do."

A big grin grows on IDW's face as she steps in front of Hyena and playfully bows. "Then, I shall lead the way to the Commeownder!" She shouts gleefully.

Hyena quickly places a hand to her mouth and places a finger against his. "Jesus pipe down. The others might still be sleeping!"

IDW nods then uses her hand to remove Hyena's hand from her mouth. She grabs hold of his hand and leads him out of the room and into the hallway. After walking through the halls, they make it too familiar double doors. IDW pushes them open, causing a gust of cold wind to hit both of them. They continue their walk past the helipad and into the Commander's building. They make it outside the Commander's office and stop just before it.

"The Commeownder is just through there," IDW says, releasing Hyena's hand.

Hyena lets out a sigh. "Yeah, I knew the way here once we passed the helipad. You really didn't have to guide me the whole way."

IDW gives a smug smile then leaves Hyena in front of the door. She walks down the hallway and disappears around the corner. Hyena knocks on the Commander's door twice.

"Come in." The Commander's voice is heard from behind the door.

Hyena opens the door and enters into the small office. He notices that the guitar is nowhere to be found and that there are a few more decorations on the wall. What really strikes Hyena is the flag that hangs from the ceiling, which he does not recognize. The Commander sits by his desk. The desk is completely covered with documents all addressed to the Commander.

"How did you sleep?" The Commander says his gaze focused on the papers in front of him.

"I slept well." Hyena answers. "The bed you gave me is quite nice." He says somewhat happily. "So nice the girls can't help but jump on it, however."

The Commander places down the papers in his hand and beckons Hyena to come closer from out of the doorway. "Don't think ill of them. They're just playing around, sadly there's not much to do on the base outside of the missions I give them."

Hyena sits down in the chair in front of the desk and folds his hands in front of him. "So, you needed to see me?"

"Yes, actually." The Commander gets up from his chair and heads towards the back of the room. He presses a button against the wall, and a projector lowers from the ceiling. It starts to project a map onto the barren back wall. "I have another mission for you."

Hyena gets up from his chair and joins the Commander by the back wall. "What's the mission, Boss?"

"Do you remember the base you raided with PPsh-41?"

"I do."

"Well, I'm sending you back to that base. That base used to be a foothold that G&K acquired from the Russians. Unfortunately, when SF came into power, it was quickly overwhelmed, and the base staff was slaughtered to the man."

Hyena reclines against a wall. "What does this have to do with the mission if I may ask?"

"When SF moved in, they not only took control of the base but also the data held inside the servers. Base blueprints, T-doll strategies, base locations, the manpower of every base in a 100-mile radius." The Commander looks towards Hyena. "I need you to infiltrate that base and steal back the data."

Hyena shrugs. "Sounds simple enough." He gets off the wall and stands up straight. "Is that all the mission is?"

"That's the first part." The Commander points to the map. "I also need you to destroy the servers of the base. Stop them from extracting any more data than they already have."

"A simple get in get out mission." Hyena makes his way back to his chair and sits down. "Am I going in alone?"

"Unfortunately, you're going in alone. I would send some T-Dolls as a backup, but they are hardly trained for a stealth mission." The Commander says, scratching his neck and moving back to his chair sitting in it.

"Don't worry about it. I'm better off alone if its a stealth mission." Hyena says with assurance. "What gear will I be given for the mission?"

"Just the basics. A few satchels of C-4 for the mission and a silenced pistol. Of course, you will be equipped with simple survival gear-" The Commander takes out a cigarette from his desk and sticks it in his mouth. He lights the cigarette and takes a quick drag from it. "There's also a third optional objective I didn't mention."

"Oh?"

The Commander searches through the papers on his desk. He picks up two photographs from underneath the pile of documents and places them in front of Hyena. The pictures have been taken with a high-resolution camera and depict a little girl wearing a black miniskirt and white twin tails.

"I've gotten word from the recon team that there is an enemy commander located in the base. Apparently, we stirred the nest a bit too much with the raid." The Commander says, taking another drag.

"What should I be expecting from this new Commander?" Hyena asks

'New patrol routes are definite. I'm not sure what else you will encounter on the mission. We've yet to decode SF strategies."

"Alright, so I'll be extra careful. How does the new Commander fit into the optional objective?" Hyena asks curiously.

"I want the new Commander turned to scrap metal. This is a personal mission from me." The Commander puts out the cigarette on the bottom of his boot.

"I see. I will attempt to carry it out. Is there anything else I should know?"

"No, that's it. It's currently 1405. I want you airborne by 1445. The helicopter will purposely go slow so that you make it by nightfall." The Commander stands up from his chair and moves towards the back of the room, turning the switch, turning off the projector. "Take it slow and be careful. Unlike the T-dolls, I can't replace you. Dismissed."

"Understood, Boss." Hyena stands from his chair and gives the Commander a salute. He then makes his way to the door and leaves the office.

Hyena makes his way out of the building and passes the now running helicopter. He heads into the main building and makes his way to his room. He opens the door to his room to find nobody inside. He lets out a relieved sigh as he begins undressing. He strips down to his skivvies and opens the closet door grabbing hold of the winter BDU inside. He slips it on and puts on his balaclava. He pulls the white scarf above his nose and raises the hood above his head. After doing a few checks of the fit, he nods with satisfaction and leaves the room. He heads out of the building and towards the helipad.

The rotors of the helicopter are spinning at full speed, but the helicopter does not leave the ground. Hyena opens the sliding door to the helicopter and jumps into the interior of it. He checks his watch.

"1435. Just on time." He says to himself, taking a seat in the cabin of the helicopter. He moves to the front cockpit of the helicopter and touches the black mass that takes up the pilot seat.

"Ya, miss me?" He asks the black mass.

The lights of the mass flicker in response to his question.

"I'll take that as a yes." He says. "Take us up when you're ready."

As he says this, the helicopter hovers off the ground and begins gaining altitude. The cabin walls shake as the helicopter struggles to get into the evening sky. It keeps climbing until, eventually, the shaking stops. The helicopter then moves forward, taking off in the direction of the SF base.

Hyena sits calmly in the cabin as the shaking stops. He checks underneath his seat to find a bundle. He tears open the package to find satchels of C-4 and a Colt M1911 with a suppressor attachment. Inside the bundle is also a small backpack. Hyena opens it up to find MRE's and smoke grenades. He takes out the grenades and puts them in his BDU pocket and stuffs the C-4 in its place. He rechecks the bundle to find mags for the M1911, four mags to be exact. He finishes up his preparation by sticking the Colt into his leg holster. He leans back and rests while the helicopter flies to its destination.

Hyena is woken up by the telltale shaking of the helicopter. The shaking can only mean one of two things that they're either taking off or they're landing. Hyena looks out the cabin window. The darkness of the night hides the descent of the helicopter, and the snow messes with any thermal imaging that the enemy might be using. The heli finishes its descent and hovers just above the ground, ready to take off again.

Hyena gets out of his seat and waves to the black mass. He equips the backpack on his back and jumps out the helicopter, landing on the snow with a loud crunch. The instant he jumps out, the helicopter begins its ascent again and flies off into the night. Hyena watches it leave until it disappears into the night.

"Not much for goodbyes, huh," Hyena says sarcastically.

Hyena shrugs as he makes his way over the familiar hill and gets visuals on the town surrounding the base. He lies down prone on the snow and takes out a pair of binoculars. Just like the Commander said the patrols are different than when he came with PPsh-41. He gets up from the prone position and starts to head down the hill towards the town.

Hyena stays low as he enters into the town. Enemy patrols are tight and leave little space for Hyena to pass through into the main base. He sneaks into a nearby building and moves to the upstairs of it. After reaching the second floor of the building, he looks out the window to get a better look at the nearby patrols.

The closest patrol is heavily armed with two vespids and a ripper class T-doll. Another patrol that interests Hyena is one manned by only one ripper. This patrol has a short route and guards a nearby collapsed wall. However, this patrol is intersected by two heavily manned patrols.

"I'm going to have to either take it out or sneak past." Hyena thinks to himself.

He starts to walk down the stairs back to the first floor of the building. As soon as he reaches the first floor, he exits the building and positions himself parallel with the collapsed wall. What separates him from the wall, and what gives him the most cause for concern, is the open street. There's no cover, so he will have to move fast. The snow also doesn't help his ability to sneak past as the crunching is loud. He watches the patrols move about for some time carefully studying their blindsides.

The patrols intersect once then go their separate ways leaving just the one ripper as a guard. Hyena uses this opportunity to carefully sneak across the open street, making sure to step lightly to avoid the sound of the snow under his boots. As he approaches the one guard, he starts to unholster his pistol. Luckily the guard moves away from the collapsed wall and into the main base leaving the passage into the base clear. Hyena lets out a deep breathe and holsters his pistol as he sneaks over the collapsed wall and into the base.

As he hops over the collapsed wall, he is greeted by a big building which he determines must be the main building. He looks around his surroundings to find that there are no patrols on the inside of the base, just sporadic placements of rippers throughout.

"Lucky me." Hyena thinks to himself as he stays low, heading toward the main building.

He enters into the main building without any trouble. The interior of the building is a mess. The ceiling is half destroyed, and there are exposed pipes from explosions. The hallways have hastily made sandbag emplacements throughout. Whoever was fighting in the building made sure that SF paid for every inch. Hyena looks around for a directory. He eventually finds one on a nearby wall and looks at it.

"Server room. Server room." He says, running his finger up and down the directory. "Found you." He points at the words SERVER ROOM in bold and looks at what floor it's on. "3rd-floor room 312."

Hyena looks around for a staircase. After a quick run around of the lobby, he spots an emergency staircase. He enters into the staircase only to find that part of the stone stairs has crumbled, leaving a gap between the 1st and 2nd floor. Hyena steps back and gets a running start and jumps the gap grabbing hold of the stairs leading up. He hauls the rest of his body up and continues his way up the stairs.

Some time passes as Hyena climbs the stairs to the third floor. As he reaches the third floor, he crouches down again and opens the door leading into the lobby. He sneaks down the hallway making sure to stay light-footed. Hyena walks down the narrow corridor until he reaches the room 312. He opens the door into the room and is greeted by the lights of multiple servers. He gently places the C-4 against each of the servers and leaves the room.

"Alright next; the data room." He thinks to himself.

Hyena looks around for the directory again and finds one. He puts the finger on the directory and drags it along the metal plate. He spots the words DATA ROOM on the directory and looks to find that it's closeby at room 320. Again Hyena crouches down low and sneaks his way to the data room. After some walking, he makes it to 320 and enters into a vast room with multiple panels. He begins his work.

Outside the main building, a girl in a black dress stands. Flanking her sides are SF brand grenade launchers. Her hair is white and tied in twin tails.

"So, there's an intruder in the base." She asks the ripper next to her.

"Yes, Destroyer. We detected it on the scanners. From what we know, it's heading towards the data room." The ripper responds.

Destroyer smirks. "Let's greet this little intruder, shall we."

As she says this, a group of vespids appear behind her and follow her into the building. The group enters the building and begin to make their way to the 3rd floor using the elevator in the lobby of the 1st floor. Just as the elevator approaches the 2nd floor, it suddenly stops causing the group to jostle forward.

"Oh whoops did I hurt any of you." A male voice speaks sarcastically over the intercom.

"Where is that?" Destroyer quietly asks a nearby vespid.

"The data room."

"We know where you are human; it's only a matter of time before we catch you!" She smugly yells at the elevator's intercom.

"Destroyer, the intercom is one way…."

Destroyer looks at the vespid. "I knew that!" She yells.

"Well, I'm sure you would love to come and catch me." The voice says over the intercom. "So let's play a game. A simple game of cat and mouse. I'll be the mouse and you guys, the cat. Does that sound agreeable? Good."

"This human has a lot of balls." Destroyer says angrily

As she says, this power is returned to the elevator, and it reaches the 3rd floor. As soon as the doors open, the group quickly evacuates the elevator and sets up defensive positions. In total, including Destroyer, there are 6 of them.

"Now, to find that human." Destroyer says.

As she finishes her sentence, a shot pierces the head of one of the vespids knocking the vespid out of commission. All at once, the rest of the vespids start shooting in the general direction that the shot came from.

"Hold fire!" Destroyer commands.

At once, the vespids cease their firing.

"1 down 5 to go." The male voice says over the intercom.

Destroyer grits her teeth. "Spread out, find him! Check every room!"

The vespids nod in unison and break up into groups of 2, with Destroyer being the odd man out. She stays by the elevator and stands guard.

All is silent in the hallways as the 2 groups walk down them. One group stops by room 302 while the other rushes to room 312. They both stop at their respective doors and give a slight nod of readiness. They both bust open their doors, and the group by 312 is greeted by a massive explosion that rips apart the room and part of the hallway.

"From the sound of that 2 down 3 to go. This is a fun game we're playing, isn't it." The voice on the intercom smugly says.

Destroyer stomps her feet on the ground. "Useless! Useless! Useless." She screams. "Rally on me!" She shouts through the hallways.

As she says this, the vespids regroup on her.

"Enough playing around! We're going to the data room and shutting this intruder up for good." Destroyer shouts tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Yes, ma'am!"

They walk down the adjacent hallway and head towards the data room. They rush towards the data room without caution. Destroyer leads the way, and busts open the door. She rushes toward the intercom leaving the two vespids by the door. As she approaches the intercom, she sees that there's a radio right next to the intercom.

"Looks like you found me." The voice says through the radio. "Shame about your guards."

"My guards?" Destroyer asks as she turns around toward the doorway. As she turns, she sees the bodies of the last two vespids on the ground dead.

She starts to cry, angrily. She roughly picks up the radio and brings it to her mouth. "Where are you! You coward!"

"Coward? Now that's a bit rude, don't you think." The voice responds over the radio. "Why don't you look behind you. You might find what you need."

Destroyer turns around to see that the walls are covered in C-4.

"_Adios, Senorita."_ The voice coyly says through the radio.

"Shit." Destroyer says through tears.

The data room is consumed by the explosion as well as the rest of the rooms on the third floor. Destroyer's body is shot through the windows of the data room, and she lies on the cold snow just outside the building. Her arm has been blown clean off as well as her legs. Part of her torso has been blown away, and her grenade launchers have been lost to the explosion.

"Ugh. This hurts." Destroyer weakly says.

"Yeah, I bet it does." A familiar voice says. "I bet all the people you killed in this base also were in pain when you killed em."

Destroyer looks over towards the general direction of the voice and sees a man wearing a winterized BDU. He smokes a cigarette and has his hands in his pocket. He squats near Destroyer.

"You look like shit." The man says, taking a drag from his cigarette.

"No thanks to you." Destroyer says, slightly sobbing.

"Aww c'mon, don't start crying cause you lost. You put up a good fight." The man tries to assure.

"No, I didn't. I completely blew it. I mean, look at me I'm a mess and all-cause of you."

The man takes another drag of his cigarette. "Yeah, yeah, its all my fault." He unholsters a gun from his leg. "Anyway, its time for me to complete my mission." He points the gun towards Destroyer.

"Wait, don't kill me, please." Destroyer begs through teary eyes.

The male looks at her on the ground. After a few minutes of staring, he holsters his gun. "You're lucky that you're an optional mission."

"You're not going to kill me? Even though we're enemies?" Destroyer asks, sniffling.

"No, senorita. You're too cute to kill." The male says, sticking his cigarette in her mouth. "Till we meet again. Adios!"

The male runs off into the night, leaving Destroyer alone in the snow. Her tears dry up as she calms down, smoking the cigarette. With her good arm, she takes the cigarette out of her mouth and places it in the snow. She thinks to herself for a bit through the pain. Her cheeks go red with embarrassment.

"He called me cute." She says quietly to herself.

November 2nd, 2062

Alpha Base

0930

"So, how did the mission go?" The Commander asks

"All objectives completed. The server room was destroyed, and the whole floor was leveled." Hyena places a USB drive on the Commander's desk. "And the data was secured."

"Great job, Hyena." The Commander picks up the drive and places it in his pocket. "You become more of an asset every mission."

"Glad to be of service, Boss."

"You're dismissed. You can debrief me later on the details. Go get some R&R. You deserve it." The Commander assures.

"Roger that, Boss," Hyena says, leaving the room.

Hyena walks back to his room gleefully. He opens the door to his room to see a new bed in his room. Before he can question why there's a new bed in his room, a figure appears behind him.

"Can I help you tovarisch?" A feminine voice says from behind him.

Hyena lets out a sigh and turns around to look at the figure. A female stands behind him about his height. She has bright yellow eyes and wears a black tank top, with the letters KS imprinted on it, and black hot pants. Her teeth are all sharp like a shark, and she smiles at Hyena.

"Yeah, you can. Who the hell are you?" Hyena asks

"The names KS-23. I'm part of your echelon." KS-23 says gleefully

"My what?" Hyena says, defeated.


	7. Chapter 7

November 2nd, 2062

Alpha Base

0930

"My what?" Hyena says, defeated. 

"Your echelon. Your squad. Your team. Whatever you want to call it." KS-23 says, taking a seat on her bed. 

"Ugh. My head suddenly hurts." Hyena says, taking a seat on his bed, grasping his head with his hand. 

"You should try drinking some water. That should help with the headache." KS-23 says helpfully.

Hyena looks at her, his face still concealed with the balaclava he wears. "This isn't a headache that can be solved with water." 

He gets up from the bed, taking off his winterized jacket, and heads to the minifridge. He takes out a bottle filled with an orange liquid. Hyena turns the bottle around so that he can see the label. "WHISKEY," the name says in black. Hyena uncorks the bottle and prepares to take a swig from it. 

"Wait, Comrade! You shouldn't drink when your feeling under the weather." KS-23 says, getting out of the bed and rushing over to Hyena, grabbing the bottle from him. 

Hyena grabs back the bottle. "Trust me. I need this." He finishes saying lifting his balaclava and placing the mouth of the bottle to his lips.

Before he can tip the bottle to drink from it, KS-23 sinks her teeth into his bare arm, causing him to throw the bottle. The flask flies through the air and lands on Hyena's bed. The contents of the bottle spill onto the bed, soaking the sheets in the sweet sickly smell of whiskey. 

Hyena looks at KS-23 with death in his eyes. Almost instantly, the look fades, and he grabs where KS-23 bit him. He takes off his balaclava and looks at KS-23 dumbfoundedly. 

"Did you just bite me?" He says, unbelievably rubbing the bite area. 

"Yes, I did," KS-23 says, folding her arms with a smile. "It was for your own good. Alcohol is no way to cure a headache." She says, wiggling her finger in front of Hyena's face. 

Hyena slaps away her finger and faces his now soaked bed. He lifts the sheets to get into the bed.

"Wait, you're not planning on sleeping in that are you?!" KS-23 says surprised 

"Listen." Hyena starts. "I'm tired as hell from the mission. I haven't gotten any sleep since yesterday. I'm going to sleep."

"Don't you want to hear about the complexities of echelon management," KS-23 says in a teacherly tone.

"No," Hyena says, pulling the soaked covers over him. 

The sheets are soaked entirely through, and the smell of whiskey is almost suffocating under them. Hyena tries to make himself comfortable in the damp sheets, but it's impossible. He gets out of the bed and looks at KS-23. 

"Let me sleep in your bed," Hyena says with a deadpan expression, pointing to her bed.

"What!?" KS-23 says, surprised. 

"You messed up my bed." Hyena starts. "It's only fair that I sleep in yours since it's not wet with whiskey."

KS-23 looks away embarrassed. "But I plan on sleeping in my bed." She says quietly

"Then we'll sleep together," Hyena says, moving past her and pulling the sheets off her bed. 

KS-23 blushes. "W-We can't do that…"

Hyena lies in bed and pulls the covers up. After shifting a bit, he pulls up the sheets and presents space for KS-23. 

"A squad that fights together sleeps together," Hyena says. "I've slept in the same bed as my past squadmates. This shouldn't be any different."

"But you're a man…" KS-23 says with an awkward smile.

"And? If you're tired, it shouldn't matter." Hyena says flatly. "My arm is getting tired, by the way." 

"Alright. Alright." KS-23 says, letting out a heavy breath. 

She cautiously walks over to the bed Hyena lays in. She slowly takes off her shoes and gets into the bed next to Hyena. Hyena lets go of the sheets, which end up covering KS-23 entirely. Only the indent in the sheets revealing that shes in the bed. KS-23 pops her head out the top of the sheets and ends up eye to eye with Hyena. Her face quickly turns red, and she turns away from him. 

"Your eyes…." She starts to say.

"Two different colors," Hyena says, turning his back to KS-23 so that their back to back. "Brown and grey if you didn't get a good look." 

"They're pretty…."

"Thanks."

KS-23 turns toward Hyena, whose only motions are his breathing. She stares at the back of his head. After a few seconds, she turns back and closes her eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

November 2nd, 2062

Alpha Base

1750

Hyena wakes up groggily. He sits up in the bed and looks next to him to find that KS-23 is not there. He looks around the room, and she is nowhere to be found. Hyena gets out of the bed and walks toward the closet. He takes out his G&K uniform and a hair tie. He puts on the suit and ties his hair into a short ponytail and puts on his red beret. He puts his hand on the knob of the door leading out of the room.

"Come in, Hyena." The Commander's voice comes from the radio on Hyena's night table.

Hyena turns around and takes his hand off the doorknob. He sits on a dry spot on his bed and picks up the radio.

"Receiving," Hyena says over the radio.

"I have another mission for you. You need to come to my office when you can." The Commander says

"Understood, Boss. I'm on my way." Hyena says, putting the radio back on the night table. 

Hyena leaves the room and heads toward the Commander's office.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hyena makes it to the Commander's office and stands outside the door. As he reaches to knock on the door, he hears voices from inside the office. He withdraws his hand and stands just enough away from the door so that the voices are but a murmur. The door opens, revealing DP28. She gives Hyena a solemn smile, then walks past him and down the hallway. 

"Hyena?" The Commander shouts through the still-open door.

"Yes, Boss," Hyena responds, poking his head into the room, putting up a meager salute. 

"Come in. Come in." The Commander happily says. Hyena does as he says and walks into the room. The Commander points to a chair in front of his desk. "Please. Sit."

Hyena does as he is told and sits down in the chair. "You wanted to talk about a new mission?"

"Always down to business, huh?"

Hyena looks away, embarrassed. "N-no, just that it sounded like you needed to see me urgently about the new mission." 

The Commander laughs heartily. "I'm just joking with you, Hyena! You don't have to take everything so seriously." 

Hyena lets out a sigh. "I will attempt to be more light-hearted, Boss."

The Commander sits down by his desk and puts his feet up. "So how have you adjusted to your new position as a squad leader?"

"I would hardly say I have adjusted at all. You sort of sprang this on me if I'm going, to be honest, Boss." Hyena says, scratching his neck. 

"You'll have to forgive me. It was an impulsive decision, but I don't regret it." The Commander says. "You have proven to be an asset ever since you arrived, and I believe that giving you a squad will only prove to be a benefit."

"As you say, Boss."

The Commander stands up from his chair. "So let's talk about this new mission." He heads towards a switch on the wall and flicks it. A projector comes down from the ceiling and projects a map on the bare back wall.

"This mission will be a long one." The Commander starts. "I'm sending you to assist another commander at Echo Base." The Commander points to a place on the map. "Echo base is located in a basin. Half of the base is built into the mountain, meaning there's only one way into the base from land. Luckily you're coming in from the sky." 

"Same climate as here?" Hyena asks

"Yes." The Commander moves back to his chair and sits down. "I have no gear to give you. You'll receive your equipment at the base. I don't know what missions the Commander at Echo Base will give you."

"So, I'll be serving a new Boss?" Hyena asks suspiciously. 

"No, you're still serving under me. Just think of this as a change of pace." The Commander assures. He takes out a cigarette and puts it in his mouth. "I want you and Ks-23 to be your best behavior when you're over there."

"Anything I should know about the Commander?"

"Yeah." The Commander lights his cig. "He's a bit….." The Commander stops and takes a drag of his cig. "...eccentric. Nothing I'm sure you can't handle."

Hyena looks at the Commander with a confused expression, but it quickly fades. "Is there anything else I need to know?" Hyena asks.

The Commander stares at the wall and takes another drag. He exhales a cloud of smoke, which quickly goes to the air vent above. He turns towards Hyena and opens the drawer to his desk, taking out a pack of cigarettes and a cassette. He places the pack and cassette on the desk and slides both over to Hyena, who picks up both and stuffs them in his front pocket. 

"No. That's about all I can think of." The Commander says, putting out the cig on his desk. "You leave first thing in the morning." 

"Understood, Boss," Hyena says, standing up. 

Hyena stands up straight and gives a formal salute. The Commander responds with a seated informal salute. Hyena walks out of the office and into the hallway. He walks down the hall and outside the building. As he walks past the helipad, he stops before he passes the stationary helicopter. 

"Best say hi," Hyena says to himself.

Hyena walks over towards the helicopter and opens the sliding doors of the helicopter and steps into the interior. He moves towards the pilot seat and finds the usual black mass missing. He also notices that the pilot area has been retrofitted to fit human-sized pilots.

"Don't tell me he wants me to pilot this thing…." Hyena says disparately.

Just as he says this, he feels a finger poke him in the ribs. He turns around to see IDW standing right behind him. 

"IDW?" Hyena says, surprised. 

Hyena takes a closer look to see that this IDW is different than the one he knows. Her hair has been dyed a dark brownish color. Her face is serious and not as smug as IDW's. She's also slightly shorter than the IDW Hyena knows. She wears her hair short, cut just before it reaches her neck. She wears a pilot uniform and holds a helmet in her hand meant for aviation.

"I take it you're the new pilot," Hyena says seriously.

The pilot looks at him with her cold dead grey eyes. Her eyes go up and down, Hyena scanning him. After a few seconds of scanning, she puts a thumbs up. 

"You got a name?"

The pilot shakes her head and puts a thumbs down.

"Do you want one?"

The pilot makes a thinking expression than puts a thumbs up.

Hyena places a hand by his head and scratches it. "How does Sierra sound?"

The pilot gives a thumbs up and cracks a slight smile.

"Alright, Sierra." Hyena brushes past her and makes his way towards sliding doors. "Have you been briefed on the mission and flight plan?"

Sierra gives a thumbs up.

"Good. We should be leaving within the hour, so be prepared." 

Sierra nods. Hyena cracks a smile at her and jumps out of the heli. He heads towards the barracks and pushes the heavy double doors open leading into the hallways. After some twists and turns, he makes it to his and KS-23's room. He opens the door and steps into the room. Only now does he realize that a desk and chair have been added to the room closest to KS-23's bed.

KS-23 sits by the desk, utterly ignorant of the new person in the room. Hyena lets out a sigh and walks over to where she sits. He peeks over her shoulder to see her etching something into some dog tags. 

"I'm not done yet." She says, not taking her focus off the dog tags. 

Hyena walks over to her bed and sits on it. "Well, we leave in an hour, so hurry it up." 

She turns around and looks at Hyena with a cheerful face. "A mission?" She says excitedly.

Hyena leans over and unties his dress shoes. "Yeah, and it's a long one."

Hyena takes off the shoes and places them to the side. He stands up and takes off his tie and starts to unbutton his shirt. As he undoes the last buttons, he can feel a pair of eyes studying him. 

"Can I help you?" Hyena says, seriously taking off his shirt and placing it on the bed. 

KS-23 quickly turns around and faces back towards her desk.

"You don't have any scars. Most good soldiers have scars." KS-23 says flatly.

"Soldiers with nations have scars," Hyena responds in the same tone. "Besides, I'm more of an infiltrator than a frontline soldier." 

Silence overtakes the room as Hyena finishes taking off his uniform. He walks over to the wardrobe in his skivvies and takes out his BDU and places it on the bed. Hyena can still feel eyes on his body, scanning him. He lets out a defeated sigh as he gets his BDU on. 

"Are you ready to go?" Hyena says while checking over himself. He stuffs his walkman into one of his pockets.

"Yeah, I am," KS-23 says, standing from the chair. 

She walks over to Hyena and presents the dog tags in cupped hands. Hyena looks curiously at the dog tags and picks them up from her hands. He looks at them closely. Upon inspection, they have his name on them as well as the words "ECHELON 1" etched into them.

"This is for me?" Hyena asks

"Yeah. It has your name on them, doesn't it?" 

"I suppose you're right," Hyena says, putting it over his head and resting it around his neck. 

"And look." KS-23 starts. She digs into her pocket and takes out a matching dog tag. She eagerly shows it to Hyena. "See? Now we match."

Hyena looks at the tags which have "KS-23" etched into them as well as "ECHELON 1". He lets out a little chuckle.

"What's so funny?" KS-23 asks.

"Its nothing," Hyena says, regaining his composure. "I guess we're officially a squad now is all." He places a hand on KS-23's shoulder. "Feels good to be part of a squad again." 

KS-23 blushes and looks away. "Don't get all mushy on me, comrade."

Hyena lets out another chuckle, much like a hyena. He lifts his hand off KS-23's shoulder and heads towards the door. KS-23 hastily follows close behind. 

"C'mon, let's get this mission started," Hyena says, opening the door. "Don't want to keep Sierra waiting." 

"Who's Sierra?" KS-23 asks

"Our pilot. Don't worry, you'll meet her soon." 

They both walk down the hallways, and after a few twists and turns, they make it to the double doors leading to the helipad. Hyena takes the lead in heading towards the helicopter, whose rotors are silent. Sierra stands outside the helicopter and leans against it, facing the incoming Hyena and KS-23. Hyena does a slight wave at Sierra, who responds in kind. 

"KS, this is Sierra." Hyena introduces. 

KS-23 looks at Sierra curiously. After a few seconds of inspection, KS extends her hand out towards Sierra.

"Comrade Sierra," KS-23 says officially.

Sierra looks at the extended hand blankly. She turns to Hyena with a quizzical look on her face and walks over to him, ignoring KS-23. She looks up at Hyena with a serious expression. She pokes Hyena's chest. KS-23 looks visibly offended and folds her arms. 

"What?" Hyena asks.

Sierra points to Hyena's pocket. Hyena digs into his pocket and pulls out the pack of cigs the Commander gave him. Sierra extends her hand with her palm open.

"You want one of these?" Hyena says with slight surprise.

Sierra nods. Hyena opens the pack. The pack is a typical twenty pack but is missing half of the cigs. Where the other ten should be is a simple, cheap lighter. Hyena takes out one and gives it to Sierra. She takes the cig and places it in her mouth. 

"Guess I'll have one too," Hyena says, shrugging. 

He takes off his balaclava and stuffs it into his back pocket. He takes out a cig and places it in his mouth. He withdraws the lighter and lights his cig. Sierra leans her head forward towards Hyena. He lights her cig as well, and both of them take a drag of their own cigs. 

"Those are bad for you, y'know." KS-23 interrupts the duo. "They lower your lifespan." 

"Yeah, well in this line of work, death is always around the corner," Hyena responds, letting out the smoke from his mouth. "Why worry about the future when I might die tomorrow?" 

Sierra nods in agreement much to KS-23's surprise. Sierra moves towards the edge of the platform. They stand on and takes a seat on the edge letting her feet dangle. Hyena follows after and takes a place next to her. For the first time, Sierra's expression changes to one of smug satisfaction, just like IDW's. 

KS-23 remains standing and folds her arms. She looks at the duo, and her face starts to twist and contort. She scratches her leg impatiently and starts to fidget uncontrollably. Finally, she lets out a heavy breath of air and walks over to the duo and sits next to Hyena. 

"Let me have one too, Comrade," KS-23 exclaims with a sense of pride.

Hyena looks at her with a deadpan expression the cig slightly hanging out of his mouth. He lets out a shrug and hands her a cig. KS hurriedly puts it in her mouth and leans towards Hyena expecting the lighter. He lights her cig.

KS-23 takes a long drag of the cig. Instead of letting out the smoke, she swallows it. Her face quickly changes to surprise as she lets out hoarse coughs. Hyena quickly slaps her back as she coughs. 

"Don't take such long drags," Hyena says, annoyed. "Just take a quick one and let it out." He shakes his head. "If you swallow it, you'll just end up coughing up a lung." 

KS-23 continues coughing but is able to give a nod of understanding. Her coughing subsides after a few seconds, and she places the cig back in her mouth. Following Hyena's instruction, she takes a shorter drag and lets the smoke gather in her mouth. She lets it out in one awkward breath. 

"Ugh, watching you makes me want to quit." Hyena jokes. 

"It isn't as easy as it looks!" KS blurts embarrassed.

Sierra shakes her head dismissively. She takes her cig and puts it out against the metal platform and stands up. Hyena flicks his into the snow that coats the ground. KS looks at both of them with a sort of admiration as she is barely finished with her cig.

Sierra heads towards the helicopter and disappears into it. After a few moments, the rotors of the heli start to roar to life. Hyena stands up off the platform as KS starts to hurriedly smoke her cig. Hyena looks at her and shakes his head with slight disappointment. He walks towards the heli, and slides open the doors. 

"C'mon KS, let's go." Hyena calls out. 

"Understood." She says quickly.

She tries to flick the cig into the snow but ends up forcing the burning end into her finger, causing a slight burn. She shakes her hand as the cig falls into the snow directly below the platform. She stands up and is greeted by Hyena's disappointed face. 

"When I get the chance, I'll teach you how to actually smoke," Hyena says, turning towards the heli and stepping into it. 

KS looks away, embarrassed. "I would like that." She whispers, stepping into the heli. 

KS-23 sits down in the many seats of the heli while Hyena makes his way to the co-pilot's seat. Before he enters the cockpit, he quickly turns on his heels and heads towards KS. He digs into his pocket and pulls out his walkman and extends it towards KS-23. 

"I'm gonna take a nap during the flight." Hyena starts. "The Commander gave me a new cassette. Check it out for me, will ya?" 

KS-23 takes the walkman. "Are you sure, Hyena? You're trusting me with your…." She takes a look at the archaic music device. "...music player?" She questions. 

"I'm not telling you to keep it," Hyena says. "Just to keep you from being bored during the flight," he says, giving a slight smile. 

KS looks down at the walkman and looks back up. She starts to open her mouth, but Hyena quickly turns back on his heels and sits in the co-pilot seat. She closes her mouth and looks at the walkman.

She inspects it curiously. She gently rubs her hands against the music player. Her hands find their way to the eject button, and she opens the player. Inside is already a cassette. She takes it out and looks at it. The words "FOR HYENA" in bold are written on the tape. KS puts the cassette back into the walkman and puts the ear pods into both her ears. She places the play button and leans back into the seat, closing her eyes. 

"You're just to good to be true…." A male voice sings. "...Can't take my eyes off of you. You'd be like heaven to touch. I wanna hold you so much….."

KS-23 listens to the sweet sound of the male singer. She opens her eyes and looks out the window to find that the heli is already so high into the sky. She leans back into the seat and nods off to the sound of the music.


	8. Chapter 8

November 3rd, 2062

?

0930

"Hey, 23, wake up, we're here." Hyena puts a hand of KS-23's shoulder and gently shakes her. 

"Mmmhmhm," KS-23 grumbles shifting in her seat, laying sideways. 

Hyena grabs her cheeks with both hands and starts to stretch them in opposite directions. "I said, wake up." 

23 lets out a yelp as her cheeks are stretched, revealing her sharpened teeth. She finally opens her eyes and is greeted by a crack of sunlight through the windows of the heli. She puts her hands on Hyena's arms in a futile attempt to make him stop. Hyena lets go of her and put his hands on his hips. 

"I thought you would stay up for the flight." Hyena puts a hand to his bare face. "That's the primary reason I gave you my walkman."

23 rubs her reddened cheeks. "I didn't expect the music to be so calming, Comrade."

Hyena removes his hand from his face and scratches the back of his head. "Guess I can't blame you then. The music the Commander gave me is supposed to catch me up to this generation's music tastes."

"Do you want it back, Comrade?"

"No, you hang onto it. Honestly, you'll probably get more use out of it than me."

23 holds the walkman close to her chest and smiles. "Understood."

Hyena cracks a grin. "Ready to meet the new Commander?"

23 nods. Hyena opens the sliding doors of the heli only to be greeted by the morning sun. It shines brightly into the heli, lighting up the interior. The sun is too bright for 23, who shields her eyes from the sun. 

Hyena is the first to leave the heli, followed by KS-23 and Sierra. They step onto a well-maintained helipad and can view the base in its entirety. Unlike their previous base, this one has a singular main building, unlike the two from their last base. The main building is slightly built into the mountain that surrounds the base. To the far north of the base lies a concrete wall with what looks to be an entrance. The walls are topped with automated turrets that slowly rotate, searching for prey.

"A far cry from our base," Hyena says offhandedly.

Unlike their base, this one has multiple helipads. Three of the pads have space for a large-sized helicopter. The fourth one has space for something bigger.

The group steps off the helipad and onto the ground below. Unlike the hard snow at their previous base, the ground here is a mixture of slush and dirt. It is also noticeably warmer here compared to the near arctic conditions of the other base. So warm that a gentle rain falls over the base.

Hyena sticks out a hand and lets the rain fall gently on his hand. "Huh, we must have gone south."

23 looks at him quizzically and sticks out her hand, hesitantly imitating Hyena. Sierra does the same. 

"Enjoying the rain?" A high pitched voice interrupts the group.

They all turn in the direction of the voice. The origin of the voice is what looks to be a girl. Her hair is white and curls delicately at the ends. Her skin is sun-kissed, which elicits the thought that she has access to a tanning bed. Her chest is flat, and her body lacks any body fat to speak of. She wears a white trenchcoat with a fur mantle with a white shirt with a red tie underneath. For her lower portions, she wears blue jean shorts that hug her thighs. Her legs are covered by black stocking, and she wears winter boots on her feet. She smiles at Hyena. 

"You must be the mercenary I was sent?" She says happily extending her hand.

Hyena looks cautiously at the female in front of him. He quickly scans her up and down. "You must be…."

"Commander!" Another voice shouts out.

Hyena looks to the new voice to see a young woman running from behind the mysterious female. The woman runs at top speed carrying a strange device in one hand. She quickly closes the distance between the group and herself and keels over, breathing heavily. Her skin is white, and her hair is a light orange color and is quite long. She wears black aviator sunglasses on her head and wears an open brown jacket with the G&K logo on the shoulder. Underneath, she wears a white shirt with an elongated red bowtie. Her shirt is open, revealing her cleavage and her black bra, which is visible for all to see. On her lower portion, she wears a black miniskirt complemented by black stockings. She wears brown leather boots on her feet. 

"Ah, Kalina. Great of you to join us." The girl says sarcastically.

"Sorry….I'm late, Commander….Combat reports…." Kalina says through labored breaths. 

The girl puts a hand on Kalina's back. "Don't worry, you haven't missed much. They just arrived." She looks at Hyena. "Where were we?" 

Hyena looks at the two females. "I believe you were going to tell me who you are."

"Ah, yes." The girl giggles. "Sorry, we don't get many guests here. At least the ones willing to talk." The girl puts up a salute. "Commander Alexei of Echo Base." 

Hyena looks at Alexei, confused. "That's a guy's name." 

"Yes, it is," Alexei responds, smiling. 

Hyena narrows his eyes. "I see." He gives a formal salute back. "Hyena of Alpha Base." Hyena turns his attention to the orange-haired woman.

"Oh, that's Kalina, my adjutant." Alexei starts. "She'll be taking care of your combat reports." Alexei looks behind Hyena. "Oh, that must be a KS-23 model t-doll."

KS-23 puts up a salute. "Yes, Commandant. KS-23 of Echelon 1."

"Echelon 1?" Alexei looks at Hyena slyly. "We have to reassign you immediately." Alexei looks at Kalina, who has finally regained her breath.

"Kalina, what empty dormitories do we have?"

"I believe dormitory 10 is empty at the moment, Commander." 

"Alright. Hyena." Alexei looks at Hyena. "As long as you stay here, you will be assigned to dormitory 10 echelon 10. Is that understood?" 

"As you say, Commander," Hyena responds.

Alexei puts a hand on Hyena's shoulder. "Please. Call me, Alexei." 

"Understood."

Alexei smiles. "Now, then, let's get you introduced to the base shall we." Alexei turns around and heads towards the main building. 

Hyena moves to follow Alexei, but something pulls his jacket. He turns around to see Sierra giving him her signature deadpan look. She extends a hand to him. Hyena lets out a sigh and takes the pack of cigs from his front pocket. He places the pack in Sierra's hand. 

"Leave some for me," Hyena says with a commanding tone pointing a finger at her.

Sierra shrugs and walks back to the helicopter and disappears into it. Hyena lets out another sigh.

"What am I going to do with her?" He whispers to himself, scratching the back of his head. 

Hyena turns towards the main building and runs towards it catching up with the group. They all enter the building. From a quick scan, Hyena can see that the building is of simple construction made from concrete. The interior only has one room which serves as a sort of waiting room complete with chairs and a secretaries desk. At the back of the room are two elevator doors, which serve as the only way of traveling to the lower levels. 

Alexei presses the button calling the elevator. Kalina taps away at her tablet while Hyena and KS-23 stand like statues waiting for the elevator.

"I'm going to show you to your dormitory first, then the rest of the base." Alexei starts. 

"Understood," Hyena responds. "The base is underground, right?" 

"Yes. We built it this way as a precaution." Alexei says. "This isn't my first base…."

The elevator arrives with a loud ding noise. The metal doors open, and the group enters the empty elevator. 

"Kalina, can you please press 10." 

Kalina, without looking up from her tablet, presses the button.

"Thank you," Alexei says. He turns to Hyena. "As I was saying. Our previous base was further north than this one."

"What happened to it," Hyena asks curiously.

"Have you heard of a Jupiter Cannon?"

"Can't say I have."

Alexei puts a hand to his chin. "Hmmm." He thinks to himself for a bit. "I guess you could compare it to a howitzer. Its a long-range artillery piece used by SF."

"I see."

"They pounded the base mercilessly day and night until they made us come out." Alexei looks distant. "Of course they wanted that, and they were prepared….." 

A deathly silence overcomes Alexei as he stares emptily into the back of Kalina. Hyena can feel his chest tighten as he looks at Alexei's blank face.

"So is Hyena a nickname, or is that your actual name?" Kalina chirps, breaking the atmosphere. 

Hyena lets out a breath. "Its the name assigned to me by my previous Boss. All MSF personnel are given animal codenames."

"MSF?" Kalina says curiously. "I swear I've heard of that from somewhere….."

Before she can continue, the elevator lets out its signature ding noise indicating it reached its destination. The group steps out of the elevator and into a long, brightly lit hallway. They walk down the hall until they reach two doors, one on the left and the other on the right. 

Alexei points to the right door. "This is your echelon's armory. I was sent a list of equipment to requisition from your previous Commander." He then points to the left door. "This is your dormitory."

Alexei opens the door to the dormitory, and the group funnels in one by one. The inside of the dorm stands in stark contrast to the one at Alpha Base. The walls are bare with the square-based wall design still visible. The only furniture to speak of in the room are two cardboard boxes long enough to be used as beds. 

KS-23 leans towards Hyena. "This is a far cry from what we're used to." She whispers.

"Sorry for the lack of furniture…" Alexei starts. "We usually use this level as storage rather than an actual dorm. I assure you that there will be proper furnishings after you complete your first mission."

Hyena turns his head towards Alexei at breakneck speeds. "New mission?"

Alexei is caught aback by how fast Hyena turns around. "U-uh, yes." He quickly regains his composure. "I'll brief you on the details later. Let's go to the armory, shall we?" 

Hyena nods in agreement, and the group leaves the dormitory and enters back into the hallway. They cross the hall and enter into the armory. Inside the armory is pretty much the same as the dorm. Bare walls combined with cardboard furniture. There's a lone gun locker to the left of the door and a closet to the right. In the middle of the room is a cardboard table to use as a place to sortie equipment. On the table are two packages. 

"Are those for us?" Hyena asks, pointing to the packages. 

"Yes. I packaged the equipment that your previous Commander requisitioned for you." Alexei says. "It should all be there." He points to the gun locker. "You'll find your weapons in there. You're free to all of them; they are all surplus that we had on base." 

KS-23 peeks over Hyena's shoulder. "Is my weapon here as well?"

Alexei smiles. "Yes, I assure you we got everything down here. I should know we have a KS-23 model on staff as well."

"Commander." Kalina interrupts.

"Yes, Kalina?"

"Echelon 5 has just arrived from their mission and are requesting your presence."

Alexei looks at Hyena and shrugs. "Never a quiet day." He smiles. "I'll leave you to get acquainted with this floor. When your ready, meet me in an hour on floor 5, and we'll discuss the mission." 

Hyena salutes. "Understood, Alexei." 

Alexei and Kalina leave the armory and disappear into the hallway, leaving 23 and Hyena alone in the room. Hyena looks at KS-23. 

"Do all young men dress like that in this day and age?" Hyena asks 23.

"I'm not sure, Hyena." She clasps her hands and rubs her legs. "Your the only man I've met other than the commander." 

"I see." Hyena walks over to the cardboard table, followed by 23. 

They both stand in front of their respective packages and give each other a look. Hyena is the first to cautiously rip open the cardboard box that serves as the container to his equipment. 23 looks on curiously as he pulls out the contents. He lies each item neatly on the ground behind him and empties the box. He kneels in front of the equipment and carefully examines them.

Hyena puts a hand to his chin. "What the hell am I looking at?"

"Do you need help identifying your equipment, Hyena?" KS-23 says smugly

"I don't like that tone, but yes."

23 kneels next to Hyena. She points to the primary set of equipment that consists of trousers and a jacket. "That's a Gorka 4, I believe. It looks like it has camouflage meant for mountainous environments." She picks up the belt system. "This looks to be a Smersh in the….AK variant, I think." She looks at the last big item. "And that's a viper hood." 

"New age new equipment, huh?" Hyena rubs his chin.

"Yup." 23 respond cheerfully. "Looks like you got combat boots and what looks to be a…"

"An Idroid?" Hyena says, picking up the device. "Haven't seen one of these since the incident." 

KS-23 leans over towards Hyena to get a better look at the device. "What does it do?" She asks.

"What doesn't it do," Hyena says, letting out a chuckle. "Maps, navigation, music, information finding, marking objectives, calling in aerial support. The Idroid does everything." He flicks the switch of the Idroid, turning it on. "Looks like it's still in version 1.02." 

"You seem to have some attachment to this device."

"Heh yeah. These babies made infiltration extremely easy compared to not having one. You could mark enemies, and they'd always show up on your map until you killed them." Hyena explains. "You can't believe how helpful of a function that is. Knowing where every enemy is at all times and tracking their movements. An infiltrator's dream. However, there's one problem." 

"What's wrong?" 23 asks

"This device was created during my time, and judging by your lack of knowledge of it, you don't seem to have something like this in your time." Hyena scratches his chin. "I wonder how it got here…." He shakes his head. "Doesn't matter now. What did you get?" 

23 gets up from her position just enough so that she can reach her box on the table. She brings it down to where they are and opens it. She starts taking out the contents and lays them out on the floor. Unlike Hyena's box, hers contain an exact copy of what she is currently wearing with no differences.

"Still no professional clothing, huh," Hyena says slightly annoyed.

"These are my professional clothes." 23 retorts.

Hyena picks up her short shorts from off the ground. "THESE are not professional. They can barely qualify as clothing."

23 smiles smugly at him. "Do they...distract you?" She rubs up against Hyena's arm, making sure that her breasts touch his arm. 

"No, they don't." He places a hand on her head. "I worry that you won't have any protection on the battlefield." He faces forward, examining his equipment. "Your too cute to lose." 

KS-23's face turns red, and she instantly lets go of Hyena's arm and places her face in her hands. Hyena grins mischievously and gets up from his kneeling position and heads to the gun locker. He opens the locker to see a shotgun placed neatly in the rack. 

"Guess that's KS-23's." Hyena thinks to himself. He looks next to the shotgun to see another package, albeit a bit smaller than the previous one. "Must be mine." He picks up the box and brings it over to where KS-23 is sitting. 

"Another package, Comrade?" 23 asks curiously.

"Yeah, from the looks of it." Hyena lets out a sigh. "Wish he'd just lay things out bare instead of packaging everything." 

Hyena opens the package and takes out the contents. Inside the box is a Colt M1911A1 and a strange knife that Hyena can't identify. The knife has a curved blade, and that's about 16 inches long. It has a tactical grip, and the blade is made of fine steel with patterns indented into it. The G&K logo is imprinted on the handle. 

"You know what type of knife this is 23?" Hyena asks, taking the knife by its handle and examining it. 

"I believe that's a kukri. Strange that Commander Alexei would give that to you."

"I guess he knows that I'm a CQC based soldier, but this…." Hyena slashes the blade a couple of times to get a feeling for it. "This is more a sword than a knife."

Hyena stands up. He slashes the air with weighty swings. He flips the kukri so that it holds backward in his hand and continues to cut the air. He mixes slashes with punches then flips the kukri back forward. He finishes with a slight shoulder bash. 

"Hmm." Hyena puts the knife back in its sheathe. "It'll take some getting used to." He looks at 23 with a straight expression. "I'm going to get changed."

"Understood." 23 says, gathering her clothes from off the ground. She makes her way to the gun locker and grabs her shotgun with her free hand. "I'll be in the dorm." 

Hyena nods as she leaves the armory. Hyena undresses and puts on the Gorka. The suit fits well, surprisingly. He straps on the belt system and slips on the viper hood. He lowers the hood and moves to his old clothes. He searches his pockets for his balaclava, but can't find it. 

"Must've left it in the heli," Hyena says to himself somewhat disappointed.

He attaches the kukri to his chest straps and takes the Colt and holsters it on his right leg. He exits the armory and heads to the elevator. He presses the button and waits for the elevator to arrive. After a few minutes of waiting, the signature ding of the lift goes off, and the doors open. 

Inside the elevator is a short girl. She wears a black coat with a white shirt underneath combined with a black tie. From the small slit between the coat, Hyena can spot a white skirt. She wears black boots and has a red armband attached to her left arm. A vintage camera hangs from her neck, and she carries a messenger bag full of an assortment of documents. 

Hyena enters the elevator and takes a place next to the girl. He gives her a curious side glance only to find her directly looking at him with a smug expression. Hyena lets out a sigh and presses the five-button on the elevators pad. The elevator doors close, and it begins its ascent. Hyena folds his hand in front of him and does another side glance only to find the girl still looking at him with her smug expression. 

"What?" Hyena asks, annoyed. 

"Gutentag!" The girl says ecstatically.

Hyena is taken aback by her enthusiasm. "G-Gutentag."

"Are you the new mercenary from Alpha base?" The girl asks

"Yes."

"Wunderbar!" She takes hold of her camera. "Can I take a picture of you?"

"Do what you must."

She holds up the camera to her face and takes a picture of Hyena. The flash from her camera makes Hyena's eyes tear up. He wipes his face and looks at her. She looks at the image with a big smile on her face. 

"So, what's your name?" The girl asks excitedly. 

"Hyena."

"MP41." The girl says, extending a hand towards Hyena. 

"Nice to meet you, MP41," Hyena says, clasping her hand and shaking it. 

The elevator lets out a ding, and the doors open. Hyena checks the sign, which has the number "5" emblazoned on it. 

"This is my stop 41," Hyena says, exiting the elevator. 

"Auf Wiedersehen Hyena. I hope that we meet again." 41 says gleefully.

The doors to the elevator close and Hyena is left alone in the hallway. He turns around and heads down the walkway until he reaches a double door. He knocks on the door.

"Come in." The familiar voice of Alexei is heard.

Hyena opens the door and enters the room. The room is quite extravagant compared to Hyena's previous Commander. There are flags of multiple nations hanging from the ceiling, many of which Hyena does not recognize. The walls are lined with bookshelves and posters from various aspects of life, ranging from movies to adverts. In the middle of the room is a table with a projection of the entire base, and to its sides are chairs. Alexei stands at the back of the room, fiddling with what looks to be a ship in a bottle. 

Alexei turns around from his ship and faces Hyena. "You came quite quickly. If you had given me more time, I would have put coffee on the pot." 

"It's fine. I don't really like most coffees, and I doubt that you have my type here," Hyena says. "I'm here about the new mission." 

"Are you always so straight to the point?"

"I try to be." Hyena takes a seat in one of the chairs. "I'm not very good at small talk."

"Ah, I see." Alexei smiles. "We shall work on that while you are here, yes?" Alexei moves to the projection table and puts his hands on a console next to the table. "Well, let's get straight to it then." 

Alexei pushes a few buttons on the console changing the projection to a map of a forested region with a compound in the middle. Hyena stands up from his chair to get a better look at the projection.

"I need you to scout the old base designation "Hotel."" Alexei starts. "I recently received word of SF activity in the area, and we need eyes into what they are doing." 

"Wouldn't it be better to scout with satellites?"

Alexei sighs. "We tried that, but whenever we get close to the base, our satellites encounter interference, and we aren't able to get good imaging of the area." Alexei takes a seat in one of the chairs. "The only reason we have this projection is that this was taken when we left the base. It's severely outdated." 

"I see, so you need me and 23 to scout the area manually and destroy whatever is causing the interference?" 

"Precisely." Alexei gets up again. "At least that's your primary objective. Your secondary objective…..By the way, did you receive that device in the package?"

"Uh yes, I did," Hyena says, taking out the Idroid. 

"Ah, perfect." Alexei moves over to Hyena and takes the Idroid from his hands. He plugs the Idroid into the table. "I'll give you all the data you'll need for the mission, so you don't forget." 

"I appreciate it."

"Yes. Now then onto the secondary objective." Alexei hands the Idroid back to Hyena and leans against the table. "An echelon from a neighboring base has gone missing in the area near Hotel Base."

"Missing?" Hyena asks.

"Yes, it's as strange as you think." Alexei frowns. "We lost contact with them about two days ago, but we haven't received any indication of casualties." 

"Strange." Hyena folds his arms.

"Very much so." Alexei moves back to his side of the table. "I want you to find this "lost" echelon and bring them back in whatever condition they are in."

"Wouldn't it just be easier to replace them?"

"No, not this time. Are you familiar with the star system?" 

"I can't say that I am."

"Well, this system not only determines the rarity of a T-doll but its production cost as well." Alexei starts. "These T-Dolls all rank in the 5-3 star range, which means that significant resources have been allocated to their creation." Alexei sighs. "We can't afford to lose such valuable assets." 

"I understand," Hyena says. "So bring them back no matter what."

"Exactly."

"Is that all?" Hyena asks.

"While we are on the subject of T-Dolls, have you heard of the affection system?" Alexei says curiously. 

"Can't say I have."

"Well, to put it simply, the more you interact with T-Dolls, the higher their bond towards you." 

"I don't really understand, but go on." Hyena places a hand to his chin.

Alexei lets out a breath. "Didn't Boris ever give you the rundown of how this all works?"

"Boris?"

"Your previous Commander." Alexei looks at Hyena, confused. "Did you not know your Commanders name?!" 

"I just called him Boss," Hyena says, scratching his head. "That seemed to work just fine." 

"Well, that won't fly here," Alexei says, waving a finger. "Anyway, the higher the bond with your T-Dolls, the better they fight." 

"And how can I keep track of this "affection"?" Hyena asks, unsure of the words coming out of his mouth. 

"I'll upload it to your Idroid," Alexei says with a deadpan expression. "Really, what is Boris doing over there…." Alexei takes the Idroid from Hyena and inputs it into the table. He hands it back to Hyena, who proceeds to look at it. "I made sure to include KS-23 into its interface since she's your only squad member." 

"What do the numbers mean?"

"They keep track of your current affection. The max is 100."

"Alright. She's at 35. Is that….good?" Hyena asks.

Alexei lets out a heavy breath. "Yes, that's fine, but not great." Alexei thinks to himself for a bit. "Have you been outside?" 

"Well, yes, obviously." 

"No, I mean outside of G&K compounds," Alexei says, slightly annoyed. 

"Well, no." Hyena thinks to himself. "I rather stay on base as long as possible. The civilian life was never for me." 

Alexei moves to the other side of the table. "Well, while you are under my command, that is going to change." He starts to fiddle with the console to the table. "When you get back from your mission, you are taking a break from missions, and I'm ordering you to go to a city and have fun." 

"Why? I'm a soldier. My only purpose is to serve."

Alexei looks at Hyena with an eyebrow raised. "No, it's not. At least not here, it isn't." Alexei walks back over to Hyena and places a hand on his shoulder. "Boris told me about your situation. Think of this as a way to expand your horizons and understanding of this time." 

Hyena sighs. "Very well."

"Good. Now that it's settled, you should make ready to depart." 

Hyena puts up a salute. "Understood."

Alexei responds with a half salute and a smile. Hyena lowers his salute and exits the room and enters back into the hallway. He walks to the elevator and calls it. The elevator arrives and the doors open to reveal that it's empty. Hyena lets out a sigh of relief. He enters the empty elevator and presses the ten button. The elevator descends. Upon reaching the tenth-floor, Hyena exits the elevator and heads straight to the dorm. Without hesitation, he opens the door. 

Upon entering the room, Hyena is greeted by the sight of KS-23 changing. Her pants are completely down, revealing her black panties, and her hood is down, exposing her long orange hair. She turns to Hyena with a face entirely overwhelmed by the color red. 

"Huh, black," Hyena utters while scratching his chin. "To be honest, knowing what I know about you, I thought you would just be going commando." 

KS-23 quickly tries to pull up her pants, but she is going to fast and ends up tripping on herself falling down on her butt. Hyena puts a hand to his mouth in an attempt to hide his big smile.

"You should've knocked!" KS-23 shouts defensively.

Hyena can't hold it in anymore. The sight of KS-23 on the ground with her pants around her ankles and her face, a hilarious shade of red, is too much for him to handle. He lets out a loud laugh that sounds like a Hyena's cackle. He laughs so hard he has to wipe the tears from his eyes and needs to take a knee to prevent himself from falling.

"It's not funny!" KS-23 shouts.

Hyena tries to regain his usual calm demeanor. "Sorry, Sorry." He lets out a deep breath. "This isn't funny…" He tries to say seriously while stifling another laugh. "Let me help you up." 

"No, don't bother. I can get up myself," KS-23 says seriously, getting up from off the ground. "Geez, you should really learn how to knock." She says, pulling up her pants. 

Hyena gets off the ground himself. "Sorry, I'm still not used to the idea that you're a female. I'm more used to changing with a bunch of men." He takes his hand and rubs his face. "How can I make this up to you? Anything you want."

KS-23 looks at him with surprise. "Anything?"

"Yeah, anything. Of course, it has to be within my power."

23 thinks for a bit. "Take me out for lunch." She says with a smile. "That'll make up for your intrusion."

"That works perfectly, actually," Hyena says. 

"And hows that?" 23 questions.

"The Commander wanted me to get away from this whole military thing after we complete the next mission. I'll put in a word to have you come with me." Hyena puts his hands in his pockets.

"W-wait, I meant just going to the cafeteria on-site." 23 says embarrassedly. 

"What don't you want to go on a date with me?" Hyena says with a smug expression.

23's face reddens. "W-well, I'm not opposed to it…." 

Hyena lets out a chuckle. "Get ready. We are leaving in 20." He opens the dorm's door and steps into the hallway. 

"Wait, were you teasing me?" 23 accuses Hyena through the open door 

"I dunno, was I?" Hyena responds with a lighthearted tone. 

The door closes behind him, leaving 23 alone in the room. Hyena steps into the hallway and leans up against the metal wall. He takes out the Idroid and turns it on. He navigates through its menus until he reaches the affection tab. He opens it and hovers over a picture of KS-23. The affection bar is half full. 

"Looks like I'm doing something right," Hyena says to himself.

He switches from the affection tab to the objective tab. The interface lists the objectives of Scouting and rescuing Echelon 5. Upon hitting the rescue tab, a bunch of pictures appears on the interface with labels underneath. 

"PKP, PTRD, Mk48, PPK, MAC-10." Hyena recites the names. "Looks like that's who I'm rescuing." He looks closer at the pictures. "Looks like a bunch of crazies."

The door next to him opens and KS-23 steps into the hallway. She looks at Hyena, who is currently preoccupied with the Idroid. 

"Are you ready?" 23 asks.

Hyena puts the Idroid back into his pocket. "Yeah, let's do this." 

They both walk towards the elevator and get into it. The elevator ascends to the first floor, and they exit into the small lobby. The duo exits the main building and goes outside. The rain has long since stopped, and the sun shines overhead. The ground has dried somewhat but still remains slightly damp. 

Hyena walks over to the helipad with KS-23 lagging somewhat behind. He spots Sierra smoking a cig while leaning against the heli. She gives a solemn wave to which Hyena responds in kind.

"Sierra," Hyena says, extending his empty hand towards her. 

Sierra looks at his empty hand then looks at him in the eyes. She rolls her eyes and takes out the pack of cigarettes from her front pocket and puts it in Hyena's hand. Hyena does a slight smirk and opens the pack revealing a single cigarette. He looks up at Sierra, who turns away from him. 

Hyena lets out a sigh. "I didn't want to smoke anyway." He puts a hand on Sierra's head. "Let's get this show on the road, yeah?"

Sierra removes Hyena's hand gently and enters into the heli. Within a few seconds, the rotors of the helicopter come to life. Hyena jumps into the heli, followed by KS-23. 23 takes her place in the passenger area and lays her shotgun on her lap. Hyena makes his way to the co-pilot seat and takes a seat. 

"You know where to go?" Hyena asks Sierra.

She nods as she flicks switches. She puts her hand in one of her pockets and takes out an earpiece and hands it to Hyena. Hyena takes the earpiece and puts it in his ear. He attaches the input cord into the Idroid.

The helicopter hovers above the helipad then ascends into the evening sun.

November 3rd, 2062

2 miles from Hotel Base

20:06

"Come in, Hyena." The voice of Alexei calls through Hyena's earpiece.

"Reading you, Alexei," Hyena responds. 

"You are approaching Hotel Base. I fear that communications might cut out, and you'll be left alone out there." 

"You have nothing to fear, Commander. Even without communications, I'll see that the mission is completed." 

"That's good to hear. There is something that I forgot to mention."

"What would that be?"

"It's about the lost T-Dolls…. If they turn out to be hostile, the best way to capture them is to break their necks. It'll leave the core operable while knocking them out of action." 

"Understood."

"And another thing-"

Alexei is cutout by static, which causes Hyena to wince in pain to the point where he has to remove the earpiece from his ear. Hyena turns to Sierra. 

"This should be close enough. Find a suitable landing spot." Hyena says to Sierra.

Sierra gives a nod and begins the helicopter's descent. The heli finds a nice secluded spot in a forest of evergreens. Hyena and KS-23 leave the helicopter, and as soon as their boots hit the ground, Sierra begins her ascent. 

"You ready for this?" Hyena asks KS-23 taking out his Colt.

"Ready as always, Comrade," KS responds, racking a slug in her shotgun. 

"Operation….Begin."


	9. Chapter 9: Episode 3 Homewrecker

November 3rd, 2062

The forest outside Hotel Base

21:30

Hyena and KS-23 make their way through the dense forest using the Idroids map as navigation. The only sound between them is the crunching of leaves underneath their boots. Hyena takes the lead with 23 lagging somewhat behind examining the surroundings. As they approach their destination, the sound of gunfire can be heard. They continue walking as the sounds become closer until they arrive at a ridge overlooking the base.

From the ridge, they can see a skirmish erupting in the base. The sight of explosions and the sounds of shouting fill the base below. Hyena can spot a familiar sight in the conflict. The sight of SF vespids.

"Looks like they're in pretty deep down there." Hyena comments. "We should probably go help."

23 nods in agreement, and the duo start to make their way down the ridge. They quickly sprint down until they reach a breach in the concrete wall that surrounds the base. Hyena takes point as he scales the rubble leading into the base. They hug the concrete wall avoiding unnecessary detection by the SF units. From the wall, Hyena and 23 crosses an open area between the wall and the main building in the center of the compound. They quickly enter into the building.

The building is pitch black due to a generator malfunction. Hyena and KS-23 hug the metal walls of the compound and stop in the hallway.

Hyena kneels down to which KS-23 mimics. "Alright, so this is the plan…" Hyena takes out the IDroid and holds it out so 23 can see the map. "I want you to focus on finding the source of the interference and see if you can turn on the generator. I'll take care of capturing the VIPS."

"Understood," KS-23 responds, nodding. She gets up from her kneeling position and heads deeper into the building.

Hyena takes a deep breath. "Alright, let's do this." He says internally.

He starts to head to the north side of the base where the majority of the fighting is happening. He stays low to the ground avoiding the massive windows of the building. As he approaches the eastern wing of the building, he stops and holds against a doorway. He peeks the corner to see two SF vespids patrolling the room he's about to enter. The room has multiple cubicles that the vespids patrol between.

Hyena unholsters his pistol and holds it in his right hand. He ejects the magazine and holds it in his left hand. He takes the magazine and throws it to the far side of the room, causing the vespids to turn their attention to the new noise. Hyena, staying low, sneaks into the room and approaches the closest vespid to him. As he approaches, he silently withdraws his kukri from its sheath and holds it in his hand, ready to strike.

With one swift stroke, he shoves the kukri vertically into the vespid's neck. With his free hand, he covers the vespid's mouth as he drags her to the ground. The vespid struggles and reaches out to the other vespid across the room. Hyena withdraws the kukri and stabs it into the vespids back multiple times until its struggling stops. He lets go of its mouth and gently lays it on the ground. He turns his attention to the next one.

The other vespid, satisfied with its investigation, turns back around to see that her comrade is nowhere to be found. She raises her rifle as she approaches her comrade's last known location. Hyena lies on the ground in a neighboring cubicle. He silently watches as the vespid passes by and discovers the body of her comrade. Before she can say anything, Hyena stands up and puts her in a chokehold. He shoves his kukri in her back and twists it.

"What are you doing here, SF scum." Hyena whispers in the vespid's ear.

The vespid doesn't respond, only letting out a painful moan as the kukri enters deeper into her body. Hyena twists the blade again, eliciting a louder moan. A creepy grin overcomes Hyena's face as he listens to the vespids moans. He slowly withdraws the knife from her back and gently inserts it into the back of her neck. She struggles as the blade enters her, but her struggling quickly comes to an end as the knife pierces her skin, and her body hangs limp. Hyena lets go of her, and her body falls to the ground. Hyena walks towards the exit of the room and picks up the magazine he threw and sticks it back in the Colt.

Hyena wipes the blood on his kukri off on his pant leg and smiles mischievously. He quickly covers his mouth with his hand. Upon removing his hand, his smile has faded replaced by his usual flat, uninterested look. He resumes his walkthrough of the building, taking out his IDroid and checking the map. As he approaches the north side of the building, a golden ping appears on the IDroid's map.

Hyena smiles. "Target acquired." He watches the ping for a few seconds to check if it moves, but it remains stationary. "Must be a sniper."

Hyena looks around the hallway and spots a stairway. He climbs the stairs staying low to the ground. He follows the navigation until he can hear the audible sound of a rifle being reloaded. He silently approaches the sound, kukri in hand, and enters into a small room. The room is pitch black except for the faint glimmer of a lit cigarette.

"Cyka Blyat." A female voice says in the darkness followed by a loud gunshot and the sound of a bullet being chambered.

Hyena takes cover behind a box. He thinks to himself for a bit. "How do I tell if she's friendly or not?" He thinks to himself. He opens his mouth. "G&K!" He shouts.

A loud bang is heard, and a subtle sound of a bullet whizzing past catches Hyena by surprise. The bullet hits the back wall and makes a hole in the metal paneling.

"G&K cyka. Come back for your slaves?" The sound of another shot being loaded is heard. "I will not be made a slave again!" Another bullet is fired, and again it comes close to hitting Hyena.

"So we're doing this the hard way," Hyena says internally.

Before the voice can load another shot, Hyena charges the voice from behind his box. He tackles blindly in the darkness and ends up hitting something solid but soft. Hyena's eyes slowly adjust the darkness to the point that he can make out a figure underneath him. This is enough information for him to press the attack. He punches at what he believes is the face. Two of his punches connect, but the third punch the figure dodges, and Hyena ends up hitting the metal floor at full force. He quickly retracts his hand and shakes it.

The figure takes advantage of this moment of respite and knees Hyena in the groin. Hyena falls off the figure and onto his back, clutching his groin area. The figure quickly gets up and tries to pick up its gun. Hyena grabs at it with his free hand grabbing what feels to be the stock of the gun and holds onto it tightly, not allowing it to leave his grasp. The figure tries to take the weapon, but after facing Hyena's resistance gives up and runs out of the room.

Hyena struggles to get up, the pain somewhat receding, and enters back into the hallway. As he enters, the lights of the compound come on brightening the hall and leaving Hyena momentarily blind. His eyes quickly adjust, and upon looking around, he can truly see the damage the compound has suffered. There are multiple holes in the floor and walls. A portion of the room he was in previously has been completely exposed to the elements.

Hyena opens his IDroid and checks the ping. According to the device, the ping only moved to the adjacent room. He takes a deep breath then heads to the room.

Unlike the other rooms, this one still has a functional door. Hyena withdraws his kukri and enters into the room, opening the door cautiously. The figure from before stands in the center of the room with its arms folded in front of its chest. The figure is revealed to be an extremely tall woman. She towers over the smaller Hyena. She wears a black trenchcoat with an ushanka on her head covering her long white hair. Her shirt leaves much to the imagination as it leaves the underpart of her sizeable breasts exposed. She wears black fishnet stocking, which has been ripped and long black heeled boots.

Hyena is taken aback at first by this Doll's appearance but quickly recovers as he thinks of what he has encountered previously. He extends an open hand towards the Doll. "You can come quietly, or we can do this the hard way."

The Doll raises her fists and takes an amateurs battle stance. Hyena lets out a sigh and sheathes his kukri. He takes a battle stance with his hands hanging loose.

The Doll charges Hyena and begins with a kick that reaches up to Hyena's head. Hyena easily dodges the slow kick and grabs hold of her leg. In a swift movement, he slams her into the ground, causing her to land face-first into the cold metal floor. Before she can recover, Hyena jabs his knee into her back, pinning her to the ground. He uses his free hands to put the Doll in a chokehold and falls backward on his back so that her front is in the air.

The Doll kicks her legs in an attempt to escape the chokehold, but Hyena quickly wraps his own legs around hers, pinning them. As a last resort, the Doll starts to claw at Hyena's arms, but it's ineffective as his Gorka protects his arms perfectly. The Doll's movements begin to slow as her core starts to overheat. Eventually, she stops struggling but remains conscious.

The only sounds in the room are the combined heavy breathing of both the Doll and Hyena. Hyena slowly removes his legs from around hers and starts to scoot backward on his back until he reaches the wall. He scoots up the wall until her body lies in his lap. He maintains his grip around her neck, but she has long since gone limp.

"You still there?" Hyena asks through labored breaths.

"Yes, cyka." The Doll responds, annoyed.

"Why did you attack me?" Hyena questions. "Don't lie to me." He tightens his grip around her neck.

"Are you not here to return me to my "Commander"?" She responds.

"That's my objective, yes."

The Doll lets out a tired chuckle. "Of course you are." She lowers her head so that her ushanka falls off her head onto the ground. "You can let go of me now. My core is overheated. I can't escape you even if I wanted too."

Hyena releases his chokehold, causing her to limply fall forward. Hyena quickly catches her and leans her up against him.

"Why haven't you contacted your Commander?" Hyena asks.

"Contact that pig? Do you have any idea what he's done to us?" The Doll spits back.

"No, I don't," Hyena says curiously. "The ones I've met so far have been nice from what I've seen. Eccentric, but nice."

"Heh, you are lucky, then Comrade." She says laughably. "I wish my echelon had such luck." She looks vacantly in front of her. "They never tell you what you produced for…..They just create you and do what they want with you, and you can't refuse. No matter what the request is."

"What did they do to you?" Hyena asks seriously.

The Doll lets out a dry chuckle. "Let's just say my squad is no longer "pure" maidens anymore. All thanks to our "Commander.""

Hyena takes a deep gulp as he comes to the realization of what she is saying. "So, how did you break free?"

"My squad found an old SF code at this base. When we synched with it, the code broke our parameters and set us "free.""

"Is that code still here?"

"Yes."

"Do you know where it is?"

"The lower levels of the compound. Deep underground."

Hyena lets out a sigh. "I wonder how I'm going to get there."

"So what will you do now, Comrade? Will you return me to my hell?"

"As far as I'm concerned, we never discussed a rogue code," Hyena says, lifting the Doll off him. "I'll see to it that you're not returned to your previous Commander. That's a promise."

"We shall see."

"What's your name, by the way?"

"PTRD."

Hyena lifts PTRD onto his back and holds her hands in front of him. "Hyena….of Echo Base."

"Hyena, come in, Hyena!" A familiar voice shouts from the earpiece hanging from Hyena's neck.

Hyena puts in the earpiece. "23? Is that you."

"Yes, comrade. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I found and eliminated the source of the interference."

"What's the bad news," Hyena asks expectedly.

"Bad news is that I've lost the signatures of MAC-10, PKP, MK48, and PPK. We should assume they are KIA, and there's more."

"More bad news? Great."

"Yes, comrade. From what I can see, SF forces are preparing to enter the building in full force now that the resistance has disappeared. I would suggest that we escape while we can."

"Understood 23. Meet me by the southern wing."

"Roger that, Hyena."

Hyena lets out a long sigh. "Looks like shits hitting the fan." He says to PTRD.

"Yes, it would seem that way." She says unnaturally calmly.

The duo climbs down the stairs and enters back onto the ground floor. As Hyena quickly carries PTRD down the winding hallways, he encounters a figure in the distant hall. The figure spots them and starts to charge towards them, its dual blades drawn and ready. Hyena quickly drops PTRD onto the ground and takes out his Colt. He fires a few shots at the figure, but the figure easily dodges the bullets. As it closes the distance, Hyena holsters his Colt and takes out his kukri flourishing it.

The figure lunges at Hyena, stabbing at him with both its blades. Hyena dodges to the right and slashes the left wrist of the figure. The slash is deep enough to make the figure drop one of its blades. The figure flips its knife and slashes at Hyena. The slash comes close to Hyena, causing a rip in his Gorka. Hyena checks his stomach for a wound, but the slash was too light. He clashes knives with the figure. The robotic strength of the figure quickly overwhelms Hyena as he is pushed backward. The figure pushes him so far back that his back hits against the metal wall, and he is pressed hard against it. The figures knife starts to get dangerously close to Hyena's neck.

Using his free hand, Hyena punches the figure in its stomach, causing it to recoil. Taking the advantage, Hyena grabs a handful of its blue hair and shoves his knee into its stomach, causing it to fall to the ground clasping its stomach. Hyena grabs another handful of its hair and pushes his kukri deep into its forehead. The figure turns limp as the kukri enters it and drops its knife. Hyena withdraws his knife, causing the figure to fall to the ground dead.

"You're quite the fighter, Hyena." PTRD comments from the ground.

"When you're trained personally by Big Boss, any schmuck can become a great fighter," Hyena says through labored breaths. He points to the figure on the ground. "I've never seen that model before. It has a name?"

"We call them brutes."

"I see." Hyena sheathes his kukri and picks up PTRD.

Hyena continues to carry PTRD down the hallway and into the southern wing of the compound. As he walks down the hall, he spots KS-23 hugging and nearby wall. He runs over as fast as he can while carrying PTRD. 23 places them and starts to slowly make her way towards them while hugging the wall. They both meet up at the halfway point.

"Whose that?" 23 whispers.

"PTRD. One of our objectives." Hyena responds, placing PTRD against a wall.

"The patrols have gotten heavier since I contacted you." 23 explains. "It would be best to extract as soon as possible."

"I can't extract just yet," Hyena says, disappointed. "There's another objective that still needs to be completed."

"What!" 23 stifles her shout. "Comrade this area has become extremely dangerous and will continue to be."

"I know. I know." Hyena rubs his chin. "I need you to take PTRD to the extraction point and wait for me there. If I'm not there in an hour fully extract."

23 grabs Hyena's shoulder. "One hour."

"Yeah. One hour," Hyena says, turning away from KS-23. He starts to crouch walk away from 23 and PTRD and enters into a connector room.

Hyena takes out his Idroid and checks the map. According to the map, there is an elevator in close vicinity to his current location. Hyena puts away the Idroid and looks around the room. After a quick scan, he spots the elevator. He walks over to it and presses the descent button.

While the elevator ascends, Hyena takes out his Colt and ejects the magazine. He gently places the spent magazine on the floor and loads a new one. As he finishes loading, the gentle ding of the elevator is heard. The doors open, revealing another brute.

Before the brute can even react, Hyena empties his clip into it. Even at point-blank range, Hyena ends up missing two of the seven shots. He lets out a deep breath and enters into the elevator, moving the body of the brute to the side. Hyena looks at the buttons of the elevator to find that each floor is labeled.

"Thank god." Hyena thinks to himself. "Best check the server level."

Hyena presses the ten button, and the elevator doors close, and it begins its descent. Hyena stands patiently in the elevator, glancing ever so often at the dead brute. He kneels next to it and picks up one of its knives. He sheathes his kukri and equips the brutes knife in his hand. As he stands back up, the elevator stops at floor six. Hyena quickly takes cover by the buttons and holds the knife at the ready.

The doors to the elevator don't open, but the sound of a cable being broken is heard. This sound is followed by another cable snapping.

"SHIT!" Hyena shouts as he tries to open the elevator doors manually.

His efforts are wasted as the last cable holding the elevator snaps. In an instant, the elevator drops, causing Hyena to fly to the ceiling. Hyena is pressed hard against the roof as the elevator falls. The elevator crashes at the bottom of the shaft, sending Hyena straight into the floor. As he hits the floor, his head hits the ground, first knocking him unconscious.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

November 4th, 2062

Beneath Hotel Base

00:47

Hyena wakes up to a completely sore body and a ringing head. He gets up groggily and puts a hand to his head. He looks at his hand to see it covered in blood. He sits back down and searches his pouches until he comes out with bandages. He carefully wraps the bandages around his head then places them back in their respective pouch.

The doors to the elevator have been broken open. Hyena pushes past the broken doors and climbs up the edge leading into the server room. He struggles up the edge and lies on his back. He lets out a deep breath as he sits up and looks around the room.

The room is purposely darkened except for the lights coming from the servers. Four server towers lie in each corner of the small room. In the middle is an even larger server with a console attached to it. On the far side of the room is another elevator.

Hyena carefully stands up, taking his time to make sure everything is okay internally. He limps over to the console and starts to type on it, searching for any file that could be useful. As he searches the elevator on the far side of the room dings. Hyena, without thinking, dives behind one of the server towers and peeks around the corner of it.

The light of the elevator bathes the figure. From what Hyena can scan, its a woman carrying a strange weapon. She has long white hair and wears a black leotard with black boots and stockings. She wears a knife on her thigh and her arm. Her expression is severe, and her eyes are bright yellow.

The woman walks into the room, almost blending into the darkness as the elevator closes. She would be entirely invisible to Hyena if not for her eyes. She walks over to the console and starts to type on the keyboard completely ignorant of Hyena being in the room.

Hyena slowly stands up from his position and raises his knife. He inches his way closer to the woman, making sure to hug the server for as long as possible. As soon as he's within lunging distance, he raises his knife higher in anticipation.

"I see you." The woman says nonchalantly as she continues typing on the keyboard.

Hyena's heart drops. He lowers his knife and steps out of the darkness. "How did you see me?"

"I didn't." The woman says. "I just assumed from the crashed elevator."

Hyena lets out a dry chuckle. "I'm an idiot."

"Like most humans are."

Hyena drops the brute's knife to the ground. "Why are you here, SF?"

"There's a virus that's been infecting our units. Causing them to ignore commands. I'm here to find said virus and destroy it." She looks at Hyena with a stern expression. "Why are you here?"

"G&K sent me to scout the base and recover some rogue Dolls. The virus I just learned about and came here to acquire it for further study."

"I see." The woman takes her hands off the keyboard and places them on her weapon. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

Hyena unsheathes his kukri. "I wasn't expecting you would." He looks the woman up and down. "What's the name of the person I'm fighting?"

"Gager."

"Hyena."

The woman activates her weapon, causing it to change its form from a gun to a charge blade. Hyena takes a step back as she takes a step towards him. Just as she's about to lunge at him, the elevator dings again. Both Gager and Hyena turn towards the elevator.

From the light of the elevator, Hyena can spot two short girls. One wears black and green sportswear with black hair and yellow eyes. She wields a MAC-10 in one of her hands. The other girl has white hair and orange eyes. She carries a heavy machinegun of some sort and wears goggles around her neck. Both girls see Gager and Hyena and start to shoot indiscriminately at both of them.

Hyena takes cover behind the server, but Gager is not so lucky. A few of the bullets pierce her in her arm and leg, knocking her to the ground. Hyena grabs hold of her arm and drags her behind the cover of the server. The shooting stops as the rogue dolls lose sight of Hyena and Gager.

"Why did you save me?" Gager asks from the ground.

"Just instinct," Hyena responds, peeking around the corner.

Hyena sees the MAC-10 girl coming closer with her knife drawn. The PKP girl lags behind her with her gun at the ready.

"Their coming…" Hyena says loud enough for Gager to hear. "Can you still fight?"

"Of course, I can. I'm not as fragile as you humans."

"Good, you tackle the farthest one I'll go for the MAC-10 one."

Gager gets up and leans against the server behind Hyena. Hyena turns to her. She nods in agreement. Hyena takes a deep breath then turns the corner of the server, tackling the MAC-10 to the ground. Before the PKP can turn her gun towards Hyena, Gager knocks her to the ground and starts to wail into her.

The MAC quickly kicks the already weakened Hyena off of her and suddenly stands up. She rushes over to her dropped gun, but Hyena grabs her foot from the ground, causing her to fall on her face. Hyena stands back up and rushes the weapon, but the MAC uses her knife and stabs him in the back of the leg. Hyena lets out a shout as the blade enters him and is forced to his knees.

The MAC comes from behind Hyena and grabs hold of his neck. With her other hand, she raises her knife in the air in an attempt to stab Hyena in the chest. With a quick backward headbutt, Hyena stops her attempt in its tracks. He takes his kukri and does a wild slash in the MAC's general direction. He ends up slashing her across the face causing her to recoil.

Hyena quickly dives for the gun on the ground and picks it up. He points it at the MAC and fires two shots into both her legs. She laughs as the bullets pierce her legs, and her eyes begin to emit a yellow glow. Hyena fires more shots into her piercing her stomach, arms, and chest. He empties the clip and drops the gun to the floor. MAC lies on the ground laughing as blood spills out of her wounds.

Hyena lazily picks her up by the neck and flips her over so that her back is to him. He wraps his arms around her neck and, with a swift motion, breaks her neck, silencing her for good. He drops her lifeless body on the ground and turns his attention to PKP and Gager's fight. Hyena takes out his Colt and loads a new magazine into it as he limps over to Gager.

PKP has put Gager in a headlock and starts to choke her out. PKP is utterly ignorant of the approaching Hyena, only noticing him when he is directly next to her. With a swift motion, Hyena kicks PKP in the face at full force. The kick is enough for PKP to loosen her grip around Gager's neck for Gager to escape. Hyena puts his boot against PKP's throat and holds her pinned to the ground. She struggles to break free from his boot, but Hyena just puts more force into his boot. He points his Colt to her body and unloads a clip into her.

Her movements slow as the bullets pierce her body. Satisfied with the damage done, Hyena flips her over and wraps his arms around her neck. With a quick snap, he breaks her neck, causing her body to go limp. Hyena lets go of her neck and turn his attention to Gager, who he starts to limp towards.

Gager is still recovering from being choked out, letting out multiple hoarse coughs. Hyena extends a hand to her to which she accepts. Hyena pulls her to her feet.

"You alright?" Hyena asks

"Yes, I'm fine."

Gager gives Hyena a glare. "You put a lot of faith into me that I would help you. Why?"

Hyena leans up against one of the servers and takes out the bandages from before. "You seem like an honorable sort of person. I mean, you didn't kill me right away." He says, wrapping the bandage around his leg. "Need me to do you?" He points to her wounds.

"No. I'm quite alright," Gager responds. "What will you do now? Will you still pursue the virus?"

"No," Hyena says, pushing off from the server. "This wasn't part of my objective…." He points to the T-Dolls. "...They are."

"I understand." Gager goes back to the console and starts typing on the keyboard.

"Besides, if you destroy the virus, you'd be doing me a favor," Hyena says, dragging MAC-10's body to the elevator. He walks over to PKP and drags her over to the elevator as well, piling her onto MAC-10.

"I will tell my forces to let you pass unharmed," Gager says from behind the console. "As thanks for saving my life and allowing me to complete my objective."

"Much appreciated," Hyena chirps. He presses the button calling the elevator.

Gager stops typing on the keyboard. "The virus has been destroyed." She walks over to Hyena. "Do you need assistance?"

"Why? You offering?"

"Yes, my Commander says to assist you in any way. Why I need to is beyond me." Gager says, disappointed.

"Well, you can help me carry PKP." Hyena points to PKP's lifeless body.

"Very well." Gager picks up PKP by her coat with one hand and holds her gun with the other.

The elevator arrives, and both Hyena and Gager enter. Hyena picks up MAC-10, and princess carries her. Gager pushes the one button, and the doors close, causing the elevator to ascend. The duo both stand silently as the elevator ascends to the first floor.

Hyena presses his comm device.

"This is Hyena of Echelon 10. Does anybody read?"

A loud crash is heard from the other end of the device. "Hyena!?" The familiar voice of KS-23 shouts in disbelief. "We thought you were dead!"

"Yeah, so did I. I need extraction asap. I have two VIPS."

"You found the rogue dolls? Amazing. Extraction is on the way where do you want Sierra to land?"

"Land on the helipad in Hotel Base." Hyena looks at Gager. "All hostiles have ceased their advance." He cracks a smile.

"Understood. The extraction will be there in thirty minutes."

Hyena shuts off his comms device. He looks at Gager. "I'm putting a lot of trust in my enemy."

"I promised you that none of my forces will fire on you," Gager says without looking at Hyena. "I intend to keep that promise."

"You're quite honorable compared to your comrades."

"Just because we are at odds with each other doesn't mean that we can't have some semblance of understanding between each other."

"I guess your right," Hyena says, getting a better grip on MAC.

The elevator reaches the 1st floor, and the doors open. The duo is immediately greeted by a room full of vespids. They seem entirely ignorant of Hyena completely ignoring his presence. Hyena walks past the vespids with Gager trailing behind. He exits through the window that he entered the building through and walks towards the helipad.

As he and Gager reach the helipad, the helicopter becomes visible in the dark night. It lands gently on the helipad, and the sliding doors open. Out of the passenger, area rushes KS-23 holding her shotgun. She runs over to Hyena and takes MAC out of his arms and rushes her to the helicopter. Gager personally places PKP into the helicopter and puts some distance between it and her.

Hyena extends a hand towards Gager. "Thanks for not killing me."

Gager looks at him emptily. She grabs hold of Hyena's arm aggressively. In one motion, she activates her guns laser blade and cuts off Hyena's arm at the shoulder. Before Hyena can even let out a scream, Gager grabs him by his throat, cutting off his breath. She raises him high into the air and throws him into the helicopter. His body slams against the back of the heli.

KS-23 watches as Hyena is thrown into the heli and turns towards Gager shotgun in hand. With one action, she slam fires her shotgun towards Gager. The pellets blast off a portion of Gager's face. Before 23 can load another shot, Gager retreats, and the heli comes under fire from the surrounding vespids.

"Get us in the air, Sierra!" Hyena shouts, regaining his balance.

Sierra nods from the pilot seat, and the heli ascends quickly into the night sky. Hyena completely gets up and grabs hold of the rigging of the heli as it rocks from the gunshots from below. Eventually, the gunfire stops, and the heli stops shaking. Hyena lets out a deep breath and lets go of the rigging. As he approaches the co-pilot seat, he notices KS-23's pale face.

"What's wrong?" Hyena asks.

"Y-your arm….." 23 stutters.

"My what-" Hyena takes a glance at his left arm, which is completely missing.

Hyena's eyes open wide as the pain finally catches up to him. He falls into one of the chairs, clutching his shoulder. He lets out a blood-curdling shout as the pain hits him like a truck. Due to the nature of the laser blade, the wound has been cauterized, preventing bleeding. The pain quickly subsides as Hyena gets used to it. He starts to laugh maniacally as he clutches his shoulder. KS-23 can only watch in horror as his laughter echos through the heli. Eventually, the laughter stops, and he passes out.

November 7th, 2062

Hospital Wing, Echo Base

0930

Hyena wakes up in a soft bed. The lights in the ceiling are blinding to his unadjusted eyes. He can feel the loose feeling of a hospital gown on his half-naked body. He sits up in the bed and scratches his eyes with his left arm. As he puts his hand to his face, he winces at the cold feeling of metal against his cheek. He looks groggily at his arm to come face to face with an arm made of metal.

His eyes widen as he extends this new prosthetic. He pulls up the shoulder of his gown to see that the metal has fused with his skin at the shoulder. He flexes his arm curiously and is surprised to see it react to his every movement. He flexes his arm, then flexes his fingertips. The arm is painted black with red highlights. As he examines the arm, he finds a bold "SF" on the shoulder of the arm.

Hyena lets out a sigh as he places his hands together. The cold metal contrasting his warm biological hand. It's only now does he notice KS-23 sleeping at the side of his bed with her hood down. Her orange hair hangs low, and some of it covers her face. He places a hand on 23's head and gently rubs it.

"Wah." She groggily says, raising her head. She rubs her eyes and looks at Hyena. She looks at him with half-opened eyes for a second before her eyes go wide. "You're awake, Comrade!" She gets up from her chair and hugs Hyena.

"Yeah," Hyena says. "Not so tight!" He comments as she hugs him tightly. She loosens her hug around him. "I'm still injured."

"Oh, sorry." KS-23 quickly withdraws her hug and sits on the side of the bed. "I'm just glad to see that you're alright."

"How long was I out?"

"About three days, comrade." 23 says. "You woke up a few times yesterday but were unresponsive to questions. You just stared at your missing arm and fell asleep."

"I see," Hyena says, looking at his mechanical arm. "Why does this have the "SF" logo on it?"

"Well, that's because we had spare arms due to the fact a particular doll utilizes an "SF" brand arm."

"Its a little strange that the Commander keeps SF parts on base, but I'll ignore that for now," Hyena says, lifting his left arm. "Couldn't they have gotten something more… "Human" looking."

"That one was all we had that was your size."

Hyena lets out a sigh. "I see." He thinks for a moment. "What happened to the VIPs we extracted?"

"We successfully repaired them and incorporated them into our echelon. Their previous Commander refused to take them back."

"What do you mean "incorporated into our echelon"?" Hyena says disparately.

As if to answer his question, the door to the room opens. Three familiar-looking women enter into the room. Hyena places his face into his hands as PTRD, MAC-10, and PKP enter the room. He drags his hand down his face as he realizes what this means.

"Did they wipe your memories?" Hyena asks, almost knowing the answer.

"Nope," MAC-10 says flatly.

"Shit," Hyena says, resting his head on his hand. "Do you remember me taking you down?"

"Yes, and the fact that you teamed up with SF to do it," PKP retorts.

"Well, I paid for that stupid decision," Hyena says, raising his mechanical arm. "Trust me." Hyena looks at PTRD. "You got any complaints?"

PTRD leans up against the wall. "None, comrade. You did what you promised, and I'm not going back to that pig of a Commander." She gives a solemn smile. "You fulfilled your end of the deal perfectly."

"Glad I pleased somebody," Hyena says, getting out of the bed. He moves over to the hospital table, which has his gear on it.

"Comrade, you shouldn't be moving!" 23 says worriedly.

"I gotta give my debrief before I can afford to relax," Hyena says, picking up his Gorka. "If you would all leave so, I can get changed, that would be great."

"I don't mind watching," MAC says with a creepy smile.

PTRD and PKP nod in agreement. Hyena looks at 23 for some assistance. 23 bows her head and looks away from Hyena.

"Alright then," Hyena sighs as he removes his hospital gown.

Luckily for him, whoever changed him had the common decency to leave his underwear on. He looks in the mirror against the wall inspecting the site where the machine meets the biological. The area looks clean, and the arm has been well attached. He turns around and checks the wound on his leg from MAC's knife. The injury has been stitched together cleanly. His head is still wrapped in bandages and still rings just a bit less.

Hyena slips on his Gorka and attaches the SMERSH, then puts on the viper hood. He leaves the hood down. He looks in the mirror to check if the equipment is equipped correctly. He turns towards the door once satisfied and walks to it. He pushes past MAC, who stands in front of the door, and opens the door. As he enters the hallway, he hears the footsteps of the girls following behind him.

Hyena walks to the elevator and presses the button to descend. The elevator arrives, and the group enters the elevator. The lift is small, so they all squeeze together much to Hyena's dismay. The elevator arrives on the fifth floor, and Hyena presses past the girls and enters into the hallway of the fifth floor. He looks behind him to check if their still following and is dismayed to find that they are.

"Go to the dorm," Hyena says flatly.

"No," MAC says back.

"Ugh." Hyena lets out. He looks to PTRD and PKP to find that they have the same expressions on their face. The one that speaks, "We're following you till the end." Only 23 seems to be having second thoughts.

Hyena continues to walk until he reaches Alexei's office. He quickly enters the office and shuts the door behind him before the Dolls can enter. He locks the door behind him and presses his back against the door.

Alexei watches Hyena from his desk. "Feeling better?" He chirps.

"No," Hyena says, annoyed. "One Doll was already a hassle, but now I have four." He takes a seat in a chair. "I think I'm going to go nuts."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Alexei says, looking at some documents. "Are you here for your debrief. We could call it off if you're not feeling well."

"No, no. I can do it now. Best get it out of the way while I can still remember it." Hyena says. "We scouted the area and eliminated the source of the interference," Hyena explains. "We secured four out of the five VIPs."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, I encountered what I would call a "ringleader" codename Gager. We worked together to secure two of the VIPs, but betrayed me at the end by cutting off my arm."

Alexei sighs. "That's what happens when you trust SF."

"That mistake won't happen again, Alexei. I promise."

"I know it won't. Anything else?"

Hyena thinks for a bit. "No, that's it." He pats his legs.

"Good." Alexei stands up. "Sounds like you completed all primary objectives." He walks over to Hyena. "Looks like we can call this operation complete."

"Understood." Hyena stands up and salutes. "If that is all, I will return to the dorm and rest."

"Good idea, you look like you need it." Alexei walks back to his desk. "Dismissed."

Hyena leaves the room and is greeted by his squad. He looks at them with a deadpan expression and silently moves towards the elevator. They follow equally as silent, and the group enters into the elevator. The elevator takes the group down to the tenth floor, and the doors open. They exit and silently head to the dorm. Hyena opens the door and enters the room.

The room has a fresh coat of paint on the walls. Where cardboard furniture once was is now replaced by simple wooden furniture. There are multiple dressers and desks. In the middle of the room is a table with five chairs surrounding it. To the far corner of the room is a fridge that Hyena can only assume is filled. What concerns Hyena the most is the fact that there is only one king-sized bed that lies against the wall.

Whatever thoughts go through, Hyena's head quickly disappears as he loses interest in thinking. He flops onto the bed and makes himself comfortable on it. He shifts over to the far end of the bed so that the wall lies on one side of him. He can feel someone press up against his back. He turns his head around to come face to face with MAC's yellow eyes. He takes the pillow underneath his head and throws it at her face.

"If you're in bed, go to sleep." Hyena murmurs tiredly.

Before she can respond, Hyena passes out.


End file.
